Ask any nature nut, and most will agree that there is little more satisfying in our constantly changing world of identification and classification than adding natural history literature to our bookshelves. There is just something so satisfying about physically flicking through an actual, real-life book that internet sites and Kindles, as good as they are, will never be able to fully replace.
A Guide to Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe (Dick Jones, 1983)
This field guide should have been on the bookshelf a long time ago but for the fact that I simply hadn't known about its existence until the other week. It's an oldie, first published in '83 and long out of print, but is set out in the same basic way that most pocket-sized photographic guides are today, with beautiful colour images and a decent paragraph or two describing male/female external features, habitat, season and distribution for over 350 spiders and harvestman found in the UK and Northern Europe. The book is split up by family, with (generally) three or four species described and illustrated on each two page spread.
Instead of a species key, an illustrated four-page section is provided to help narrow most spiders down to family level, and thus the guide should be a great companion to Collins (1996), whose key is definitely tailored more towards the competent spider enthusiast- focusing solely on microscopic detail to identify species. Unfortunately, with many species being so similar (e.g. Pardosa, Tetragnatha etc) I wouldn't advise basing an identification solely around a photograph you've matched it up with in a field guide, and I don't doubt that there have been a some taxonomic changes since the book was published. Mind you, I can see this being a great little guide to just slip into a pocket and use in the field to become familiar with the many different spider genuses out there, even if it isn't necessarily feasible to reach a definitive identification.
I got mine as a bargain ex-library copy, but there are still a few cheap used copies floating around Amazon if you're interested in this gem of a field guide.
Harrap's Wildflowers (Simon Harrap, 2013)
One of the more recent addition to my meagre collection of literature is Simon Harrap's Wild Flowers, a photographic field guide to British flora. I'm rubbish when it comes to identifying plants, whether they be flowering or not. I'm also equally rubbish at picking out decent guides to suit my poor level of expertise, so when I unwrapped this book as a Christmas present, I had high hopes for it being 'the one'.
Long story short, I haven't been disappointed. Most wide-releasing field guides and keys nowadays try to advertise themselves on the basis of using a minimal amount of 'technical terms', but this is one of the few I've come across that stays true to its word without seeming totally dumbed down. The first 15 pages are dedicated to plant anatomy, illustrated like they should be through arrow-labelled images of flowers and leaves, which complements the glossary of key terms nicely. Individual species descriptions are thorough, with plenty of information on the status, distribution, ID characteristics and habitat of all 934 species covered. Admittedly, similar books have covered a greater number of species, but unless you're heading out with the sole intention of finding extremely rare, obscure flora on the summit of Ben Nevis, Harrap's guide contains all the species realistically 'gettable' in typical habitat.
Some of the 'old-skool' users may find the lack of a key a bit of an off-putter, but a two page spread of thumbnail images depicting typical examples of each family (and the relevant chapters), should help narrow down a search in the field. Unlike in Collins, grasses are omitted, but there's a surprisingly large section on the aquatic plants and trees/shrubs to make up for it. One of the defining features that really makes this guide for me is the amount of information given for each species. In the majority of cases, the plants are nicely illustrated in both summer and winter form (flowering and non-flowering), with similar species often compared nicely alongside each other for easy referencing (e.g. Bluebells, Poppies, Spergularia species etc...).
The book has been out for a good few months; no doubt many have already invested in it and probably have their own opinions on its usefulness. Personally, I'd recommend Harrap as a down-to-earth field guide for anyone who doesn't always get along well with the technical mine-field of keys offered by Poland & Clement's Vegetative Key to the British Flora, or even Collins for that matter. Of course, anyone who just likes looking at pretty pictures of flowers will probably also enjoy it...
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