Britain's Insects (WILDGuides): A Field Guide to the Insects of Great Britain and Ireland (WILDGuides, 23)

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Guy Padfield, Dispar: The Online Journal of Lepidoptera "This is a delightful if demanding book, a major work in fact. All talks are digital presentations and suitable for a variety of organisations: bird/wildlife groups or camera/photographic clubs. With 23 trips under my belt (13 of them during the August seabird passage season) I have plenty of images and stories to tell from my time on MV Sapphire!

A Scientific Associate of the Natural History Museum, London, he is a world authority on stick and leaf insects and author of several popular, major reference books. There are 607 pages here and the species accounts occupy 430 of them (with useful introductions, glossary, acknowledgements and index occupying most of the rest). But I think it is likely to be kept downstairs, handy for rushing out into the garden for a quick attempt to identify a striking looking species of something or other. It needs people on the ground with knowledge and passion, who see the hidden worlds around them and fight for what they love. Like many naturalists my delving into the world of insects started with butterflies, then moths and dragonflies aided at the time by guides by Chinery, which I still have.

Terns featured strongly in 2010 and seven species will be on show including the infamous Venus Pool Whiskered Tern. In 2018 he received the ZSL Stamford Raffles Award for outstanding contributions to entomology, also the J. I keep a County yearlist every year and aim to see at least 160 species (with as many as possible photographed! It's a lovely book to hold and use: I especially like its chunky feel, hard wearing wipeable jacket, and a binding that allows you to open it flat at any page without it cracking.

A most wonderful book and must surely help to raise awareness towards protecting this precious insect biodiversity. Enlarge the map for more detail, placemarks will act as a guide for parking at the location, route planning etc.

Apart from simply helping to identify insects, there is so much background information in the species accounts and elsewhere, it makes for good reading. Following up on the popularity of 'A Shropshire Birder's Year' this is another look at birds and birding within the County of Shropshire. Michael Chinery is a well-known naturalist and the author of numerous books on insects and garden wildlife, including 'Collins Nature Guide Garden Wildlife', 'The Natural History of the Garden' and 'Collins Wildlife Trust Guide Butterflies of Britain and Europe'.