The latest titles from Penzance publisher Alison Hodge are welcome additions to her growing list of publications about the people and places of Cornwall.

David Chapman says in his introduction to A Cornish Year: "Cornwall is a fantastic place. Its people, its characters and its beauty all provide a backdrop against which our natural history thrives, so there was no lack of inspiration to guide me through the years." Told in the style of a diary, from January 1's bird-watching on Hayle Estuary to December 31's photographic trip to Gunwalloe, his detailed daily account is enchanting. Interspersed with everything from seeing a dormouse in the wild to a walk through the woods at Trenant in the hope of spotting a roe deer, it is generously illustrated – as one might expect from an award winning photographer.

The second release is for those of us unable to name the pebbles and rocks picked up on beaches or mine dump. Cornish Rocks And Minerals is written by Simon Camm, who says he first became interested in the subject as a child. This fascination led to him becoming an eminent geologist, a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, honorary research fellow of Camborne School of Mines and visiting fellow in mining geology at the University of Greenwich. From Levant atacamite and Botallack axinite to Geevor calcite and St Ives Consols bismuth, he provides an illustrated guide to the Cornwall beneath our feet. And to help readers in their discovery of this rich and diverse mineralogical heritage, he has identified 11 districts, from St Just to Calstock, using images of the minerals found in each location.