This fun-filled outdoor adventure handbook is packed with unique ideas to help kids discover the great outdoors and get closer to nature. Created with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), the UK's leading gardening charity, this pocket-sized guide teached kids about different habitats. This gorgeously illustrated handbook is bursting with fun activities, top tips and nature facts to help inspire kids to explore the amazing world around them. Learn how to choose a campsite. Grow your own daffodils. Learn how to navigate using the night sky. Each page is packed with original ideas to help kids discover and explore plants and wildlife, with exciting activities for different habitats.

The first edition of the Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe was a ground-breaking identification guide that led to an increase in Odonata recording across Europe. The second edition includes fully revised regional guides and identification texts, updated distribution maps and conservation statuses, illustrated accounts for five species that have been discovered in the region since the first edition, updated checklists and taxonomy, new photographs throughout, as well as an introduction to larvae identification. Each species is lavishly illustrated with artworks of males, females and variations, as well as close-ups of important characters.

James Lowen narrates a year-long quest to see Britain's rarest and more remarkable moths. Although mostly unseen by us, moths are everywhere. And their capacity to delight astounds. Inspired by a revelatory encounter with a Poplar Hawk-moth - a huge, velvety-winged wonder wrapped in silver - James Lowen embarks on a year-long quest to celebrate the joy of Britain's rarest and most remarkable moths. By hiking up mountains, wading through marshes and roaming by night amid ancient woodlands, James follows the trails of both Victorian collectors and present-day conservationists. Seeking to understand why they and many ordinary folk love what the general public purports to hate, his investigations reveal a heady world of criminality and controversy, derring-do and determination. From Cornwall to the Cairngorms, James explores British landscapes to coax these much-maligned creatures out from the cover of darkness and into the light. Moths are revealed to be attractive, astonishing and approachable; capable of migratory feats and camouflage mastery, moths have much to tell us on the state of the nation's wild and not-so-wild habitats. As a counterweight to his travels, James and his young daughter track the seasons through a kaleidoscope of moth species living innocently yet covertly in their suburban garden. Without even leaving home, they bond over a shared joy in the uncommon beauty of common creatures, for perhaps the greatest virtue of moths, we learn, is their accessibility. Moths may be everywhere, but above all, they are here. Quite unexpectedly, no animals may be better placed to inspire the environmentalists of the future.

Bees continue to fascinate and charm us all - from novice gardeners and nature-lovers to dedicated environmentalists - and today, bees need our help more than ever. Discover the story of these incredible creatures, with The Little Book of Bees. Bees first appeared on Earth an incredible 130 million years ago. Since the time of the dinosaurs, evolution has taken our beloved bees on an incredible journey - and today, there are 20,000 species on the planet. The Little Book of Bees is a lovely, informative book of all things bee - from evolution and communication, to honey, beekeeping, and saving the bees - all in a beautifully illustrated gift book. Contents Chapter One: The Story of Bees The Evolution of the Bee The Bee Life Cycle The Bee Family Tree Bee Anatomy Bee Nesting Behaviours Bee Factoids Chapter Two: Superorganisms Sociality in Bees Bumble Bees Honey Bees Stingless Bees Chapter Three: Honey What is Honey? Types of Honey Practical Uses for Honey Honey Healthcare Chapter Four: Beekeeping Why Keep Bees? An Introduction to Beekeeping Keeping Stingless Bees Chapter Five: Protecting Our Bee Buddies Why Are Bees in Decline? Supporting Our Bees in 10 Easy Steps Providing a Home for Bees

With over 100 colour photographs and illustrations, Raising Resilient Bees is the comprehensive source for new and experienced beekeepers, offering a sustainable, natural and repeatable model of care for hive health and production. Global pests and diseases present an unprecedented challenge for the modern honey bee. Hobby and commercial beekeepers alike continue to experience troubling rates of mortality for their colonies, with potentially deleterious consequences for the stability of our wider ecosystems and overall food security. It is time for a global focus on restoring the health of the shared apiary by naturally rearing genetically diverse and resilient lines of bees. Raising Resilient Bees establishes these parameters and provides guidance for new and experienced beekeepers alike to translate these goals into real practice, thereby safeguarding the honey bee from the unknown threats of the future. Authors Eric and Joy McEwen take two decades worth of beekeeping experience, experiments and professional production to deliver groundbreaking methods in queen-rearing, varroa mite management and Natural Nest hive design. Inside, you’ll discover: Revived and adapted heritage Integrated Pest Management techniques How to naturally rear queens and select for resilient, mite-resistant genetic lines without relying on swarming or grafting Key tenets of apicentric beekeeping Advice for establishing a flourishing and sustainable business with beekeeping at the centre How to naturally rear bees with distinctive characteristics suitable to their locale As in large-scale agriculture, the trend toward genetic homogenization is having long-term implications for bees’ capacity to withstand diverse environmental stressors. With expert advice, enthusiasm and easy-to-follow instructions, Raising Resilient Bees delivers important and timely information for every beekeeper to create a healthier future.

The "King of Sting" describes his adventures with insects and the pain scale that's made him a scientific celebrity. Silver, Science (Adult Non-Fiction) Foreword INDIES Award 2017 Entomologist Justin O. Schmidt is on a mission. Some say it's a brave exploration, others shake their heads in disbelief. His goal? To compare the impacts of stinging insects on humans, mainly using himself as the test case. In The Sting of the Wild, the colorful Dr. Schmidt takes us on a journey inside the lives of stinging insects. He explains how and why they attack and reveals the powerful punch they can deliver with a small venom gland and a "sting," the name for the apparatus that delivers the venom. We learn which insects are the worst to encounter and why some are barely worth considering. The Sting of the Wild includes the complete Schmidt Sting Pain Index, published here for the first time. In addition to a numerical ranking of the agony of each of the eighty-three stings he's sampled so far, Schmidt describes them in prose worthy of a professional wine critic: "Looks deceive. Rich and full-bodied in appearance, but flavorless" and "Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel." Schmidt explains that, for some insects, stinging is used for hunting: small wasps, for example, can paralyze huge caterpillars for long enough to lay eggs inside them, so that their larvae emerge within a living feast. Others are used to kill competing insects, even members of their own species. Humans usually experience stings as defensive maneuvers used by insects to protect their nest mates. With colorful descriptions of each venom's sensation and a story that leaves you tingling with awe, The Sting of the Wild's one-of-a-kind style will fire your imagination.

The number of people interested and active in keeping bees at an amateur level has continued to increase over the past few years in both rural and urban situations. This guide, aimed at beginning beekeepers, and the only one to be endorsed by the BBKA provides an authoritative text, along with clear photographs and illustrations. The book introduces the reader to beekeeping, including such areas as the workings of the colony, the structure of a hive, how to acquire bees and keep them healthy and what happens in each month in a beekeeping year. Each chapter is accompanied by anecdotes, answers to frequently asked questions and fascinating facts about bees and honey. The new edition includes new step-by-step sequences to illustrate procedures such as containing a swarm, identifying the queen, using a smoker and cleaning a hive as well as more information on different kinds of hives, disease management and many other key areas.

We need bees. And they need us. This small, informative and engaging guide to these terrific, tiny creatures will captivate and inspire readers of all ages. Discover the fascinating story of these marvels of nature with this perfect pocket guide, here to celebrate all things bee. Learn about their beehaviours, why they are under threat and how they are essential to our existence. From tips to help identify different species to bee habitats and folklore, this is the ideal companion for any bee lover looking to protect the future of our furry little friends. Inside you'll find: Fascinating facts about all kinds of bees (did you know there are over 20,000 different species?) The essential place bees hold in our ecosystem and the countless benefits we gain from their existence Positive steps we can all take to tackle the serious decline of these incredible insects A variety of recipes and crafts, from easy honey cake to eco-friendly beeswax wraps

Butterflies and moths hold an enduring fascination for their unusual life cycle, as they change from one creature into another. Butterflies is an outstanding collection of photographs showcasing nature's most beautiful and often elusive butterflies and moths - members of the Lepidoptera order - in the variety of their natural habitats. With 17,500 species of butterfly and 160,000 species of moth in the world today, they can be found on every continent apart from Antarctica, and in every nation. Arranged in chapters covering some of the most beautiful and interesting types of butterfly and moth, their habitats, their transition from egg to caterpillar and from chrysalid to adult, as well as their behaviour, the book reveals little-known facts about their life cycle, anatomy, self-defence mechanisms, feeding and migration. For example, did you know that while caterpillars chew their solid food, adult butterflies can only consume liquid, and some moths do not even have mouths? Or that many species can taste with their feet? With full captions explaining how the species breeds, feeds, and changes from caterpillar to the animal kingdom's most stunning member, Butterflies is a brilliant examination in more than 200 outstanding colour photographs of these fascinating insects.

A stunning new edition of the best-selling photographic guide to the moths of the British Isles – now covering all British species. British and Irish Moths is the most comprehensive collection of photographs of British moths ever published. It covers both macro and micro species, and almost all the images are all of living insects, taken in natural conditions. Concise text descriptions cover wingspan, status and distribution, flight period, habitat and larval foodplants, while thumbnail maps provide a quick overview of geographical distributions. 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. This revised and now comprehensive edition is an essential part of the library of any moth enthusiast.

This book intensively covers a never-before-explored aspect of Southern African nature and is an essential new addition to the library of every nature lover. It was researched and written over the last four and a half years to open a door to a little known micro-world that exists all around us. Invertebrates – which include commonly seen creatures such as butterflies, spiders, beetles, worms and scorpions – are everywhere. The signs of their day-to-day activities are all around us if we know where to look.

The life cycles and behaviours of many animals are discussed, with a special focus on interactions between mammals and invertebrates – a fascinating subject in itself.

While working on this book, Lee Gutteridge spent many hours in the field with expert entomologists and arachnologists, many of whom commented that; even though they had spent a lifetime in the field, this experience, of invertebrate tracking, had changed the way that they see the invertebrate world.

With funding received from the Oppenheimer family, 250 copies will be donated to indigenous trackers, whose knowledge Lee appreciates and respects.