Books

By: Peter Eeles    320 pages, colour photos

British & Irish Butterfly Rarities is the first book to focus solely on those butterfly species regarded as extinctions, rare migrants or introductions. There are 59 butterfly species that are considered resident or regular migrants to Britain and Ireland, yet there are another 63 species whose story deserves to be told.

The history of each extinct species, such as the Black-veined White and Large Copper, is spelt out, together with any reintroduction attempts. Our rarest migrants, such as the Camberwell Beauty and Long-tailed Blue, are also included, with a focus on those years when there have been large influxes and, in some cases, evidence of breeding. The book also discusses deliberate introductions, such as the European Map, as well as adventives that have been accidentally introduced, including the Geranium Bronze. 

The distribution, habitat, status and life cycle of all primary species are discussed in detail, accompanied by hundreds of lavish images of adults, eggs, caterpillars, chrysalides, habitat and foodplants. 

These are exciting times in terms of our butterfly fauna and the prospect of new species arriving on our shores, such as the Southern Small White, is also discussed. 


ISBN: 9781913994105HardbackAug 2023

Available for pre-order £32.50  Order HERE





The Book of Wilding 

A Practical Guide to Rewilding Big and Small    Due May 2023


Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell know firsthand how spectacularly nature can bounce back if you give it the chance. And what comes is not just wildlife in super-abundance, but solutions to the other environmental crises we face. Deeply researched and with original illustrations by Jeroen Helmer, this book explains why rewilding is important and how every one of us can play a part. The Book of Wilding is a practical guide and call to action. Above all, it is a manifesto of hope.



SBN: 9781526659293  Hardback

Available for pre-order  £27.99 


 



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The Jewel Box 

by Prof. Tim Blackburn

Every morning, ecologist Tim Blackburn is inspired by the diversity contained within the moth trap he runs on the roof of his London flat. Beautiful, ineffably mysterious organisms, these moths offer a glimpse into a larger order, one that extends beyond individual species of moth, beyond lepidoptera or insects, and into a hidden landscape.

Just as Michael Faraday’s iron filings arrange themselves to articulate a magnetic field that would otherwise be invisible, Tim shows us that when we pay proper attention to these tiny animals, their relationships with one another, and their connections to the wider web of life, a greater truth about the world gradually emerges into focus. In The Jewel Box, Tim reflects on what he has learned in the last thirty years of work as a scientist studying ecosystems and demonstrates how the contents of one small box can illuminate the workings of all nature. 


ISBN: 9781474624527   Hardback    Publish date: June  2023

Available for pre-order  £16.99


Meetings with Moths: Discovering their Mystery and Extraordinary Lives 

by Katty Baird (Author)   Publication date : 27 April 2023 

Why do butterflies bask in the limelight as mood-lifting colourful insects associated with bright flowers and sunny days, when the near-identical moths are relegated to be cast as their drab and dowdy, at best ignored, cousins?

‘Moths are some of the most stunning and diverse insects on our planet. They come in a glorious array of colours, shapes and designs, enough to be admired for their looks and lifestyles alone.’

The ecologist Katty Baird roams East Lothian, Scotland, trapping, documenting and observing moths. Burnet Moths, Kentish Glories, Death’s Head Hawk-Moths are just some of the moths that catch her attention as she climbs into holes, ventures behind waterfalls and wanders forests.

Meetings with Moths is a story about green health and the power of a passion to sustain us


Available to pre order on Amazon HERE



This book documents, celebrates and shares the many successes the Warwickshire Branch of Butterfly Conservation has had in conserving our rarer butterflies over the past 25 years. It is a manual of techniques, tips and ideas that will help and hopefully inspire others to create and manage habitats and to conserve butterflies.

In addition, the book outlines the fieldcraft that is required to provide the best chance of finding adult butterflies and their immature stages, provides tips on how to identify the difficult species and suggests how to get the maximum enjoyment from your butterfly encounters








ISBN: 9781399941518  Hardback   Published Dec 2022 

Price  £39.99

By: Mike Slater(Author), Keith Warmington(Author)

 412 pages, colour photos, colour illustrations

Publisher: Butterfly Conservation Warwickshire


Following on from the enormous success of his Micro-moth Field Tips published in 2017 and by popular demand, Ben Smart has compiled a second volume to help to identify the early signs of micro-moths in and around the north-west of England. Designed as being complimentary to the first volume, the book has an introduction to the early stages of each family of micro-moths as well as many images of leaf-mines. 

The bulk of the book is again set out as a chronological guide of species to search out in each month of the year with images of each stage in the moth’s life-cycle. At the end of the book, there’s a comprehensive species and plant index that covers both volumes. Though based around Ben’s locale, the guide is relevant country-wide and another essential guide for moth enthusiasts.

 The Lancashire & Cheshire Fauna Society, in conjunction with Butterfly Conservation have sponsored the publication of this book. It is slightly larger than volume 1 covering 200 species over 238 pages. It is full of excellent images and has a £18 selling price. The expected publication date of mid-December, just in time for Christmas.

 As this is a joint publication with The Lancashire & Cheshire Fauna Society  members of the Fauna Society or Butterfly Conservation can get this book directly from us at the special pre-publication rate of £14 + £2.20 postage and packing, a saving of £4. Offer expires on 12th December

 To reserve your copy, email mmfieldtips@butterfly-conservation.org with your name, postal address, preferred method of payment (we prefer bank transfer but can take cheques and card payments over the phone). You will a recieve a reply with a code and details of how to pay. 

The Death's Head Hawk-moth through the Looking-glass The master of mimicry

  It’s ‘skull’ repels birds, its squeaking genitalia baffle bats and it is covered in waxy particles better to raid honeybee nests. 

Philip Howse, an expert on mimicry, takes us on a tour de force of the biology and rich folk lore of this intriguing insect. This hawk-moth, with its yellow and black stripes, stalks like a tiger bee-hives to get to the honey, undetected by the bees. It has the ability to deceive the bees but also its predators, birds and bats. Our perception of it as a threat and the creation of superstitions is due to sinister-looking human skull markings on its thorax.

Foreword by Simon Barnes, natural history author and journalist.   Published by Brambleby Books 

Author: Philip Howse 

Hardback, 160pp 

 ISBN: 978190824162 

 Retail Price: £13.99 

British Moths: A Gateway Guide is a wonderful introduction to 350 species of the most common and eye-catching adult moths that you may encounter in the UK. Rather than being grouped in taxonomic order, species are organised by season, and similar-looking moths are placed alongside one another for ease of identification. Concise species accounts include information on key features, making it easy to distinguish between confusion species, seasonality, and when and where to see them; each account is also placed alongside photos that have been carefully chosen to aid identification with clearly-marked top tips.


By: James Lowen      224 pages, 500 colour photos

ISBN: 9781472987389   

Spiralbound   

Published  Sep 2021


£16.99 from NHBM

 

Silent Earth by  Dave Goulson. 

published by Rossiter Books  Due 5th August 2021

Insects are essential for life as we know it. As they become more scarce, our world will slowly grind to a halt; we simply cannot function without them. Drawing on the latest ground-breaking research and a lifetime's study, Dave Goulson reveals the shocking decline of insect populations that has taken place in recent decades, with potentially catastrophic consequences. He passionately argues that we must all learn to love, respect and care for our six-legged friends. Eye-opening, inspiring and riveting, Silent Earth is part love letter to the insect world, part elegy, part rousing manifesto for a greener planet. It is a call to arms for profound change at every level - in government policy, agriculture, industry and in our own homes and gardens. Although time is running out, it is not yet too late for insect populations to recover. We may feel helpless in the face of many of the environmental issues that loom on our horizon, but Goulson shows us that we can all take simple steps to encourage insects and counter their destruction. 

British + Irish Moths:  3rd Edition 

This third edition has been significantly expanded so that it includes all species on the British list, approximately 2,500 in total, representing a magnificent achievement by the author, Chris Manley. It also includes updates to the text, improvements to the photographic selection, and extra identification hints. For the leaf-mining micros, photographs are included to demonstrate the all-important feeding signs that can often be a more reliable identification method than seeing the adult.  

ISBN: 9781472975201 published May 2021

£39.99 448 pages, 3200+ colour photos, colour distribution maps order  HERE

Butterflies: A Natural History     A Butterfly Classic!

A unique take on butterfly behaviour and ecology, written by the former Chief Executive of Butterfly Conservation. It explores the secret lives of our British species (also drawing on comparative examples from Continental Europe), revealing how they have become adapted to survive in such a highly competitive natural world.

Combining personal anecdote with the latest discoveries in the scientific literature, the friendly yet informative text covers everything from why we love butterflies, their life history from egg through chrysalis to adult, population dynamics and how butterflies use the British landscape, their struggle for survival in a vicious world of predators and parasites, the miracle of migration, changing numbers during the twentieth century, and the significance of managing habitats at a landscape scale. It ends with a passionate plea for their conservation. It is the ultimate guide to what makes butterflies tick and how we can conserve them. 

Peter Eeles wrote in his review: " I must own over a hundred butterfly books, and there are always a few that stand out - those that I constantly refer to because of the incredible amount of detail that is packed into them - and this is such a work. While the author has written numerous publications in the past, this is the first that I believe will have a broad reach, appealing to both amateurs and professionals alike. I would have to say that the most comparable book I have in my collection is also, coincidentally, entitled 'Butterflies' - the seminal work that is the first in the New Naturalist series by the great E.B. Ford, published in 1945. This is a serious piece of work, with serious detail, and serious messages. I like to think that I'm someone who is always willing to learn, and I've had some great teachers, and this book is an education unto itself. The chapter 'A changing world' really touched me - especially the damage that neonicotinoids are doing (and future pesticides will do) with respect to our insect fauna (and, ultimately, us). More from Peter HERE

ISBN: 9781472975256  Hardback 

Available here  for pre-order : Due Apr 2021      £29.99   £34.99

Butterflies of Lincolnshire

Due for release on 16th April 2021 - a brand new book covering the history of the butterflies of Lincolnshire. This work brings together much previously unpublished data and information concerning the changing fortunes of the butterfly species found within this large county. Told through a series of diverse chapters covering the status of 63 species historically known to have occurred here, this is an entertaining and highly personal account of the county’s lepidoptera, full of facts, anecdotes, conjecture and just a hint of controversy, including details of illicit releases and the seemingly conflicting ethics of the conservation organisations and certain maverick introductionists.  The scope of this work will appeal to both amateurs and experts – it is unlikely that anyone reading this book will not find themselves enlightened, educated, and learning something new about these beautiful winged insects and their history in the second largest county of England.

The following is an extract from the foreword by Peter Eeles, author of Life Cycles of British and Irish Butterflies and webmaster of the UK Butterflies website: “Lincolnshire is rather unique among our counties, and it has taken the endeavours of two stalwarts of the Lincolnshire butterflying community, Peter Cawdell and Pete Smith, to spell out the history of each of the butterfly species found, liberally sprinkled with their own personal experiences. The resulting and very readable work brings together a unique perspective of the county – one in which we are now fortunate to share.”

235pp, softback, 224mm x 155mm, colour. Complete with graphs, habitat pictures, and 70 distribution maps showing changes in the range of many species over recent decades, along with their current status. Includes colour photographs of all species.

Available direct from the authors @ £21.95 + £4.00 p&p. Now taking pre-orders. Please contact Pete Smith on ps.petesmith@outlook.com for details of how to order a copy.

In the last fifty years our butterfly and moth populations have declined by more than eighty per cent and butterflies are now facing the very real prospect of extinction. It is hard to remember the time when fields and meadows were full of these beautiful, delicate creatures – today we rarely catch a glimpse of the Wild Cherry Sphinx moths, Duke of Burgundy or the even once common Small Tortoiseshell butterflies. The High Brown Fritillary butterfly and the Stout Dart Moth have virtually disappeared.

The eminent entomologist and award-winning author Josef H. Reichholf began studying butterflies in the late 1950s. He brings a lifetime of scientific experience and expertise to bear on one of the great environmental catastrophes of our time. He takes us on a journey into the wonderful world of butterflies – from the small nymphs that emerge from lakes in air bubbles to the trusting purple emperors drunk on toad poison – and immerses us in a world that we are in danger of losing forever. Step by step he explains the science behind this impending ecological disaster, and shows how it is linked to pesticides, over-fertilization and the intensive farming practices of the agribusiness.

His book is a passionate plea for biodiversity and the protection of moths and butterflies. 

Due to be Published Oct 2020 ISBN: 9781509539796 Hardback

Available for pre-order : Due Oct 2020  £24.99 from  NHBS bookshop

New York Times bestselling author Wendy Williams explores the lives of one of the world's most resilient and fascinating creatures – the butterfly – shedding light on the role that they play in our ecosystem and in our human lives.

"Enchanting [...] The Language of Butterflies introduces us to an array of fascinating people who help tease out delightful insights into lepidopteran biology and evolution. This is a wonderful read."

– Dr. David Suzuki, author of The Sacred Balance and founder of David Suzuki Foundation

"The butterfly's life cycle has always symbolized transformation. In this awe-inspiring book, Williams shows us how these animals can also transform whole ecosystems, scientific disciplines and human hearts."

Butterflies are one of the world's most beloved insects. From butterfly gardens to zoo exhibitions, they are one of the few insects we've encouraged to infiltrate our lives. Yet, what has drawn us to these creatures in the first place? And what are their lives really like? In this groundbreaking book, New York Times bestselling author and science journalist Wendy Williams reveals the inner lives of these "flying flowers" – creatures far more intelligent and tougher than we give them credit for.

Monarch butterflies migrate thousands of miles each year from Canada to Mexico. Other species have learned how to fool ants into taking care of them. Butterflies' scales are inspiring researchers to create new life-saving medical technology. Williams takes readers to butterfly habitats across the globe and introduces us to not only various species, but to the scientists who have dedicated their lives to studying them.

Coupled with years of research and knowledge gained from experts in the field, this accessible "butterfly biography" explores the ancient partnership between these special creatures and humans, and why they continue to fascinate us today. Touching, eye-opening, and incredibly profound, The Language of Butterflies reveals the critical role they play in our world                                                              PUBLISH DATE JUly 2020

Available now to  pre-order at NHBS store £13.99  : Due Jun 2020

Matthew Oates has spent fifty years trying to unravel the ‘Emperor’s’ secrets and with His Imperial Majesty: A Natural History of the Purple Emperor,  due to be published in June, he has written an accessible account of one of Britain’s most beloved butterflies; the majestic Purple Emperor.

 The Purple Emperor is our most elusive and least-known butterfly. We glimpse it only through fissures in its tree top world, yet this giant insect has fascinated us for centuries. This must be England's national butterfly. Matthew Oates has spent fifty years trying to unravel the Emperor's secrets. Many mysteries remain unsolved, but enough are revealed in His Imperial Majesty to enable experts and non-experts alike to go out in search of a butterfly that thrills and enthrals all who encounter it. This is a good-news species, at a time of massive wildlife decline. And this is a joyous – often rapturous – account, written in plain English, as a labour of love. 

ISBN: 9781472950123    Hardback Jun 2020 296 pages, 8 plates with colour photos 

ISBN: 9781908213822

 Paperback  263 pages  due May 2020

Available NHBS Store   £16.99

Peter Marren has written widely on the natural world and our association with it. Among some twenty books, he is the author of Rainbow Dust, Bugs Britannica.  He writes regularly for British Wildlife and Butterfly magazine and is a former columnist in The Countryman. A close friend of   

 A wonderful, meticulously researched survey of names that is packed to the gunnels with cultural and historical references. 

Many have remarked on the poetic names of our butterflies and moths. Their beauty fires our imaginations. Some are named after human occupations and social rank: Emperors, footmen, a miller, Quakers, lackeys, ‘rustics’ and chimney sweepers. Still more are named after animals: tigers, hawks, goats, sharks, even pug dogs. There are species named after jewels, musical instruments, fabrics, letters, carpets, flowers, heraldry and shells. Some names are downright baffling. Why was one butterfly called an ‘admiral’ and another an ‘argus’? Why, for that matter, are they called ‘butterflies’?

The scientific names, too, contain many allusions. One whole subset of moths is named after weddings. Another group is named after souls. A great many names are cherry-picked from classical tales and legends, often with relevance to a particular butterfly or moth. Some names are spooky, even sexy. Or funny, for Latin names contain word games and jokes.

There has never been an accessible and comprehensive guide to the names of our butterflies and moths, both English and Latin. This beautiful book, written with Peter Marren’s usual wit and insight, takes you on a journey back to a time before the arts and science were divided. When entomologists were also poets and painters, and when a gift for vivid language went hand-in-hand with a deep pre-Darwinian fascination for the emerging natural world. 

 How to rewild your own little corner of the planet published 1st April 2020

Butterfly Brothers, Joel and Jim Ashton have condensed down their fifteen years’ worth of wildlife gardening experience to share it with everyone through their first ever book. Whilst in lockdown at the minute many of us are turning to our gardens even more than ever for solace, to get our nature fix and to keep ourselves occupied as something always needs doing in a garden. This new book could not have come at a better time for many of us and will no doubt become a well-thumbed reference book over the years to come too, as our gardens grow with us. 

"Wildlife gardening is one of the most important things you can do as an individual for increasing biodiversity and mitigating the effects of climate change. From digging a pond to planting a native hedge, the Butterfly Brothers can help you every step of the way." Kate Bradbury

Publisher: Dorling Kindersley Ltd   ISBN: 9780241435816   192 pages

A Modern Classic 

By: Peter Eeles(Author),

Chris Packham(Foreword By)

 394 pages

1300+ colour photos, colour distribution maps

Publisher: NatureBureau  

ISBN: 9781874357889   HardbackSep 2019 

Codenamed Frohawk 2.0 it lives up in every way being  a hundred years since Frohawk's 1924 classic. With detailed descriptions and photos of the adult, egg, caterpillar and chrysalis of each species, this book reveals in detail the fascinating life cycles of the 59 butterfly species that are considered resident or regular migrants to Britain and Ireland. It provides unique insights into a hidden world, and is illustrated with over 1,300 high-quality colour photos that reveal the subtle beauty in something as small as a butterfly egg.

While aimed at the typical butterfly enthusiast, the book's content has been successfully tested by conservation scentists who need to record all stages when measuring the impact of habitat management and climate change. The book also includes recent discoveries that are documented here for the first time.

Butterflies are infinitely fascinating. What may start as a simple hobby of photographing the adult insects can evolve into a deep interest in their immature stages, ecology and conservation and this book will help light your way. 

"Over the past decade or so, Peter Eeles has patiently compiled photographs of every stage of the life cycle of every regularly breeding British butterfly, 59 species in all. The result is a profusely illustrated book which documents the development of the butterfly from egg to adult in greater detail than ever before [...]"

– Peter Marren, British Wildlife 31(3), February 2020

"Book of the Year 2019. Buy it! Will be a best seller [...] "

– Matthew Oates, naturalist and the Times Nature Notebook writer and author

"Absolutely stunning book! Nature book of the year?!"

– Stephen Moss, natural historian, television producer and author

"This beautiful book gives overdue attention to the miracle that is a butterfly's lifecycle – its marvellous caterpillars, chrysalises and eggs. What a superb achievement."

– Patrick Barkham, Guardian Natural History writer and author

"Not since that lepidopteran legend F.W. Frohawk studied and etched them nearly one hundred years ago have all the stages in the life cycles of all of Britain and Ireland's butterflies been illustrated in one volume. No mean feat!"

– Chris Packham CBE 

ISBN: 9781874357827  Hardback  Nov 2019 

492 pages  £38.50

Drawing on the efforts of Butterfly Conservation's National Moth Recording Scheme and Moths Ireland, this landmark publication is the first-ever distribution atlas of macro-moths in Britain and Ireland. 

Around 25 million moth records from Butterfly Conservation's National Moth Recording Scheme and Moths Ireland have been combined to produce this landmark publication – the first ever atlas of all macro-moths in Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Atlas of Britain and Ireland's Larger Moths includes accounts for 866 macro-moth species, each with a distribution map showing current and historical occurrences, trends, status, a phenology chart and colour image. A further 25 species, which were former residents, but have not been recorded from 1970 onwards, have a distribution map.

Brief introductory chapters detail the long-standing tradition of moth recording and the development of the National Moth Recording Scheme, methods used to collect and analyse the data, an overview of trends since the 1970s and the environmental drivers of change in moth populations and distributions. 

The Garden Jungle

 Dave Goulson 

Published 2019 Jonathan Cape. ISBN 1787331350 

   Dave Goulson is Professor of Biological Sciences at Sussex University, United Kingdom, and has spent the last 20 years studying bumblebees. So when he writes, he tells it how it is, and we should read and act. I’ve read all his books, and can thoroughly recommend them. This has fascinating scientific details, frightening environmental facts, and practical suggestions for what you can do in your own garden - large or small. It is also laced with the author’s delightful sense of wry humour, and some excellent recipes for cooking with home grown produce. He ends with lists of his 16 best flowering plants for pollinators and 12 best berrying shrubs for birds and wildlife. Sadly this is likely to be a book that preaches to the converted, but gives much detailed advice and information. A must read for wildlife gardeners, however tiny their plot.   review by Ginni Darbyshire BCY




'Wonderfully intense and honest - a poignant manual of how to grow hope against the odds.' Chris Packham, TV presenter and author of Fingers in the Sparkle Jar

Finding herself in a new home in Brighton, Kate Bradbury sets about transforming her decked, barren backyard into a beautiful wildlife garden. She documents the unbuttoning of the earth and the rebirth of the garden, the rewilding of a tiny urban space. On her own she unscrews, saws and hammers the decking away, she clears the builders' rubble and rubbish beneath it, and she digs and enriches the soil, gradually planting it up with plants she knows will attract wildlife. She erects bird boxes and bee hotels, hangs feeders and grows nectar- and pollen-rich plants, and slowly brings life back to the garden.

But while she's doing this Kate's neighbours continue to pave and deck their gardens locking them away, the wildlife she tries to save is further threatened, and she feels she's fighting an uphill battle. Is there any point in gardening for wildlife when everyone else is drowning the land in poison and cement?

Sadly, events take Kate away from her garden, and she finds herself back home in Birmingham where she grew up, travelling the roads she used to race down on her bike in the eighties, thinking of the gardens and wildlife she loved, witnessing more land lost beneath paving stones. If the dead could return, what would they say about the land we have taken, the ancient routes we have carved up, the wildlife we have lost?    Published May 2018 ISBN: 9781472943118


The Knepp Project : the inspiration of so many...


The most inspirational book I've read in years. In every chapter, new species return.' - Caitlin Moran (on Twitter)

In Wilding, Isabella Tree tells the story of the 'Knepp experiment', a pioneering rewilding project in West Sussex, using free-roaming grazing animals to create new habitats for wildlife. Part gripping memoir, part fascinating account of the ecology of our countryside, Wilding is, above all, an inspiring story of hope.

Forced to accept that intensive farming on the heavy clay of their land at Knepp was economically unsustainable, Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell made a spectacular leap of faith: they decided to step back and let nature take over. Thanks to the introduction of free-roaming cattle, ponies, pigs and deer - proxies of the large animals that once roamed Britain - the 3,500 acre project has seen extraordinary increases in wildlife numbers and diversity in little over a decade.

Extremely rare species, including turtle doves, nightingales, peregrine falcons, lesser spotted woodpeckers and purple emperor butterflies, are now breeding at Knepp, and populations of other species are rocketing. The Burrells' degraded agricultural land has become a functioning ecosystem again, heaving with life - all by itself.

Personal and inspirational, Wilding is an astonishing account of the beauty and strength of nature, when it is given as much freedom as possible.


The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland (Revised 3rd Edition)

Probably the best book ever published on the butterflies of Britain and Ireland.

 A Jeremy Thomas classicDetails descriptions, life stages and habitat requirements alongside superb illustrations by Richard Lewington.

 "Highly recommended"

The Butterflies of Britain & Ireland provides comprehensive coverage of all our resident and migratory butterflies, including the latest information on newly discovered species such as Cryptic Wood White and the Geranium Bronze. When first published in 1991 it won the Natural World Book of the Year Award and won plaudits from all quarters. Fully revised, considerably expanded and reset in 2010, it was judged that year’s Guardian Nature Book of the Year. Now revised again to reflect the latest research findings, and with up-to-date distribution maps, this remarkable book is THE guide to the appearance, behaviour, life cycle and ecology of the butterflies of Britain and Ireland. 

Rainbow Dust: Three Centuries of Delight in British Butterflies.  

Peter MARREN   Vintage, 2015. Pbk  reviewed  by Ginni Darbshire BCY

Peter Marren remembers when butterfly collecting was an acceptable hobby for children and teenagers. He begins by pinpointing the moment, age 5, when he caught a Painted Lady, and saw its beauty at first hand - literally, as his fingers became smeared with its ‘rainbowdust.’ The book is a tribute to British butterflies and their relationship with us, the human race; it describes how we have pursued them, collected them, named them, painted and drawn them, and sadly, how we may come ultimately to destroy them. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on women butterfly enthusiasts, a little explored area in a male dominated science. It was also very interesting to read about the Rothschild involvement in the study and conservation of butterflies in the U.K.

This is definitely one for the keen Lepidoptera enthusiast, at just over 200 pages of main text. Sadly, there are no illustrations save black and white drawings at chapter headings, so you must either know your butterflies well enough to visualise them or refer to another illustrated field guide. The book has a good index, an excellent bibliography, notes, and an appendix which interestingly lists British butterfly species not by family (the usual way), but starts with the most commonly occurring and ends with the rarest.