Insects of Britain and Western Europe
by Michael Chinery | A & C Black | Series: Domino Guides | Paperback | Sep 2012 | Edition: 2 | ISBN: 9781408179482 | 320 pages | 2000+ Colour & Black & White illustrations
Publishers’ View: Over 2000 of the most commonly observed and most distinctive insect species of Britain and western Europe, from all orders and most families, are illustrated in Insects of Britain and Western Europe, making it an essential pocket guide. The text summarises key identification points, and introductory sections for each group give useful guidelines on the characteristics of the orders, families and genera covered. Insects of Britain and Western Europe is the most comprehensive guide available on the insects of this region and will be of great use to all naturalists with an interest in insect life.
For the second edition the text has been extensively revised, and both factual and taxonomic information has been updated. Furthermore, illustrations have been revised, and four new invasive alien species have been added.
Author: Michael Chinery is the UK’s leading writer on insects.Other Reviews:“‘The amount of information in this book is remarkable. The illustrations are of the highest standard. In short, an extraordinarily fine work.” – Sir Richard Southwood, late Professor of Zoology, Oxford University
“I cannot imagine even a professional who would not want to have this book close at hand. The illustrations are magnificent.” – Times Literary Supplement
“Thoroughly recommended.” – The Entomologist’s Record
“Beautifully and profusely illustrated.” – The Naturalist
“With this book in hand, the smallest garden becomes a naturalist’s Mecca.” – Country Living
“An invaluable guide… marvellous” – The GuardianFatbirder View: I dub this an insect book for birders! This is just the slim volume I need to pop in the car if I travel to France or the bag if I fly to Spain. Slim it may be but it has literally thousands of illustrations of many of the sort of bugs, beetles and butterflies that you might see in your garden, on a birding day out or while birding in Europe. When you see a field cricket in your backyard, a shieldbug on your roses or a day flying moth at your holiday chalet this is the ideal reference.
Of course its not for specialist ‘buggers’; they will have fully fledged field guides for their particular interest but, for the likes of anyone with a general interest in the wild world this is spot on. Any birder will welcome this addition to their shelves as would anyone with a love for wild things.
Fatbirder