Collins Complete Guide to British Butterflies and Moths

This field guide covers all regularly occurring British and Irish butterflies and macro-moths, along with some rarities.  Micro-moths are dealt with in summary texts for each family, with examples described and illustrated.

The bulk of the book consists of digitally manipulated photographs of adults of each species, usually significantly larger than life size and set opposite text describing the adult, flight times, larval foodplants and comments on status and distribution, although there are no maps.  For butterflies the text is expanded to include information on the pupa, behaviour and races.  In addition, where the primary illustration is enlarged a single photograph of each species is reproduced at life size alongside the text. All photographs are set against a white background.  There are introductory chapters covering the life cycle, techniques for studying butterflies and moths, habitats and conservation.

Although this book is a useful addition to its field, I couldn’t get comfortable with it.  I kept finding errors with flight time information, there is an illustration of a female Oak Eggar, which is nocturnal, flying over heathland in daytime as the male does, and the yellow to red colours of some insects contrast sharply with the white background, making them look rather garish.

Book reviewed by Graham Geen