Britain is home to some forty species of dragonfly, and public interest in their plight is high right now thanks to their primeval beauty, aerobatic grace and a growing realisation of their importance for water eco-systems. In 'The Dragonfly Diaries', Ruary Mackenzie Dodds shares his quirky fascination for these remarkable creatures over the 25 years he has been photographing and working with them. Combining fascinating description of the lives of dragonflies, with a diary chronicling the ups and downs of establishing Britain's first public dragonfly sanctuary, 'The Dragonfly Diaries' is a must for nature buffs and for anyone who wants to be inspired by the resolve and dedication of a man on a mission to save these critically important insects.

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.

'Read this book, then look and wonder' Sunday Times We have to learn to live as part of nature, not apart from it. And the first step is to start looking after the insects, the little creatures that make our shared world go round. Insects are essential for life as we know it - without them, our world would look vastly different. Drawing on the latest ground-breaking research and a lifetime's study, Dave Goulson reveals the long decline of insect populations that has taken place in recent decades and its potential consequences. Eye-opening and inspiring, Silent Earth asks for profound change at every level and a passionate argument or us to love, respect and care for our six-legged friends. 'Compelling - Silent Earth is a wake-up call' Isabella Tree, author of Wilding 'Enlightening, urgent and funny, Goulson's book is a timely call for action' New Statesman

Nature's most successful insects captured in remarkable macrophotography In Ants, photographer Eduard Florin Niga brings us incredibly close to the most numerous animals on Earth, whose ability to organize colonies, communicate among themselves, and solve complex problems has made them an object of endless fascination. Among the more than 30 species photographed by Niga are leafcutters that grow fungus for food, trap-jaw ants with fearsome mandibles, bullet ants with potent stingers, warriors, drivers, gliders, harvesters, and the pavement ants that are always underfoot. Among his most memorable images are portraits-including queens, workers, soldiers, and rarely seen males-that bring the reader face-to-face with these creatures whose societies are eerily like our own. Science writer Eleanor Spicer Rice frames the book with a lively text that describes the life cycle of ants and explains how each species is adapted to its way of life. Ants is a great introduction to some of the Earth's most successful creatures that showcases the power of photography to reveal the unseen world all around us.

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.

For kids who love stickers and bugs, this is the ultimate sticker book. It's filled with creepy crawlies, fluttering butterflies, spindly spiders, and over 250 reusable stickers! Little entomologists will love learning all about their favourite insects and peeling the stickers from the back and sticking them all over the book. The stickers are easy to peel, perfect for little fingers! Explore the Insect World Ultimate Sticker Book: Bugs is the perfect way to engage your child with fun facts and interactive reading. Inside this fun, bug-themed activity book, you'll find: - Over 250 reusable stickers that are easy to peel and stick to pages or other surfaces - Fun facts, puzzles and quizzes for kids to learn about creepy crawlies as they play - Gorgeous photos and illustrations that will captivate and engage children This colourful activity book keeps children engaged and learning about bugs as they play. Bright photos and stunning illustrations transport children into the world of insects. They're challenged to find the right stickers to go with each insect and complete the picture, such as matching wings to butterflies and planting the flowers in the garden. Kids can also get creative and craft their own scenes out of different stickers, there's no end to where their imagination can take them! Alongside the pictures are bite-sized descriptions and information that is easy to read and suitable for children 5 years and up. They will learn about the many types of insects, and what makes each of them unique. Discover how grasshoppers sing, why they have antennae, and how the giraffe beetle got its name. This sticker book inspires little ones to explore the outside world with activities such as follow the bee trail in the garden, and learn where bugs like to hide so they can look out for bugs in their own gardens. There's also a sticker quiz at the end, so you and your pre-schooler can read and engage together. More from DK Books: If you and your child enjoyed the activities in the Ultimate Sticker Book Bugs, and want to play with some more stickers, there are lots of other creatures to learn about! Look out for Ultimate Sticker Book Animals and Ultimate Sticker Book Farm.

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.

Beautifully illustrated and approachable, this is the only California-specific, statewide book devoted to all groups of insects. Completely revised for the first time in over 40 years, Field Guide to California Insects now includes over 600 insect species, each beautifully illustrated with color photographs. Engaging accounts focus on distinguishing features, remarkable aspects of biology, and geographical distribution in the state. An accessible and compact introduction to identifying, understanding, and appreciating these often unfamiliar and fascinating creatures, this guide covers insects that readers are likely to encounter in homes and natural areas, cities and suburbs, rural lands and wilderness. It also addresses exotic and invasive species and their impact on native plants and animals. Field Guide to California Insects remains the definitive portable reference and a captivating read for beginners as well as avid naturalists.

This revised and updated edition of Majerus & Kearns (1989) Ladybirds provides a succinct but comprehensive and accessible overview of the biology of ladybirds and their parasites, focusing on ecology in an evolutionary context. It provides the latest information, coverage of recent additions to the British list including the harlequin ladybird, and makes suggestions for further research, both short and long term, highlighting gaps in knowledge and showing readers how to get involved with recording and studying ladybirds. It includes updated keys for the identification of ladybirds at late-instar larval and adult stages, and techniques for studying ladybirds and their parasites in both laboratory and field. The authors hope that this book will be a valuable resource, not only for students, from school to university and beyond, but also for anyone with an interest in natural history, whether professional or recreational.

The plight of the monarch butterfly has captured public attention and sparked widespread interest in helping to save their dwindling populations. In this in-depth portrait of the monarch butterfly--covering its life cycle, its remarkable relationship with milkweed, its extraordinary migration, and the threats it now faces due to habitat loss and climate change--detailed instructions on how to design and create monarch-friendly landscapes are enriched by guidance on observing and understanding butterfly behavior and habits. Following the model of their previous best-selling book, 100 Plants to Feed the Bees, the Xerces Society provides at-a-glance profiles of the plant species that provide monarchs with nourishment. The plants, which are all commercially available, range from dozens of species of milkweed--the only food of monarch caterpillars--to numerous flowering plants, shrubs, and trees that provide nectar for the adult butterfly, including those that bloom in late season and sustain monarchs in their great migration. Gorgeous photographs of monarchs and plants, plus illustrations, maps, and garden plans, make this a visually engaging guide.

'A remarkable field guide ... one of those books that come along every now and then and cause a revolution.' Michael McCarthy Independent This concise guide is a companion to the main Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland by the same expert authors, but is in a condensed form with artwork opposite the species descriptions and lay-flat binding for ease of use in the field. It includes brief but comprehensive field descriptions of all the macro-moths in Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, and this second edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect the latest advances in taxonomy. Featuring more than 1,700 superbly detailed colour artworks and covering nearly 900 species, this portable guide is an essential addition to every moth-lover's field kit.

Choice Reviews, Outstanding Academic Title Techniques and systems for processing food scraps, manure, yard debris, paper, and more Turning waste into wealth sounds too good to be true, but many worm farmers are finding that vermicomposting is a reliable way to do just that. Vermicast-a biologically active, nutrient-rich mix of earthworm castings and decomposed organic matter-sells for $400 or more per cubic yard. Compare that to regular compost, sold at about $30 a cubic yard, and you'll see why vermicomposting has taken root in most countries and on every continent but Antarctica. Vermicomposting is also one of the best sustainable solutions for organic waste management. Vermicomposting manure and crop wastes on farms improves crop yields while reducing demand for off-farm inputs. Vermicast has higher nutrient levels and lower soluble salt content than regular compost, and it improves soil aeration, porosity, and water retention. Plus, vermicast suppresses plant diseases and insect attacks. Municipalities, businesses, community gardens, schools, and universities can set up vermicomposting operations to process food residuals and other waste materials. The Worm Farmer's Handbook details the ins and outs of vermicomposting for mid- to large-scale operations, including how to recycle organic materials ranging from food wastes and yard trimmings to manure and shredded office paper. Vermicomposting expert Rhonda Sherman shares what she has learned over twenty-five years working with commercial worm growers and researchers around the world. Her profiles of successful worm growers across the United States and from New Zealand to the Middle East and Europe describe their proven methods and systems. This book digs into all the details, including: Choosing the right production system Regulatory issues and developing a business and marketing plan Finding and managing feedstocks Pre-composting: why and how to do it Monitoring an active worm bed Harvesting, screening, testing, packaging, and storing vermicast Markets for earthworms and vermicast Food security: how vermicast benefits soils and plants Keys to success: avoiding common pitfalls From livestock farms and restaurants to colleges, military bases, and prisons, Sherman details why and how commercial-scale vermicomposting is a fast-growing, sustainable solution for organic waste management. The Worm Farmer's Handbook is the first and only authoritative how-to guide that goes beyond small-scale operations and demystifies the science and logistics of the fascinating process that is vermicomposting.

Streit's father was a watchmaker who also kept bees, and it was in early childhood that Jakob developed a passion for the honeybee. This exquisite reader for Steiner-Waldorf schools factually and scientifically allows one to enter into the magic and mysterious world of the bees. It offers a useful transition from Class 4 to Class 5, moving from the Animal and the Human Being lesson block, to the Botany block. It is also recommended for Class 3. Along with another of Jacob Streit's books, Little Bee Sunbeam, it is one of two books recommended for the sexuality curriculum in the Waldorf school.

Over the course of his photography career, Daniel Kariko came to realise that many of his most stunning subjects could be found in his own home. Kariko utilises a combination of a Scanning Electron Microscope and optical Stereo Microscope to achieve a portrait-like effect for insects and arthropods. Vibrant in colour and surprising in personality, these images reveal such details as the glittering eyes of a horsefly, the strong legs of a centipede and the fetching smile of a honeybee. Each photograph comes with a full-body illustration from artist Isaac Talley and character descriptions from entomologist Tim Christensen. Blurring the lines of art and science, Aliens Among Us is a guidebook for anyone interested in putting a face to the creepy-crawlies under the couch.

This deep dive into the wonderful world of insects teaches us to love the tiny, seemingly terrifying creatures all around us. For many people, cockroaches are the most pesky of pests. Not so for entomologist Frank Nischk. In this funny and fascinating book, Frank reveals his love and admiration for so-called "nasty" creatures like cockroaches, crickets, and more. He shows us that even seemingly terrifying insects are beautiful in their own way-and essential to all life on Earth. Frank never planned to study cockroaches. But when researching hummingbirds fell through, he switched to cockroach feces-and soon fell in love. Cockroaches are incredible survivors, devoted parents, and adapt to almost any environment. Nischk even answers the age-old question of whether a cockroach would survive a nuclear explosion. After reading such eye-opening and warm-hearted stories, you'll think twice before stepping on one! From cockroaches to crickets, Nischk travels to Ecuador to record cricket sounds, where he finds jungles bursting with a riot of insect life (including bullet ants whose stings are surprisingly painful). As Nischk narrates his (mis)adventures as an entomologist, he shares stories about intriguing insect discoveries, from damselflies who lay eggs deep underwater, to zombie fungi that invade the brains of ants. Brimming with fascinating facts, incredible stories, and unbelievable anecdotes, Of Cockroaches and Crickets will intrigue anyone who has ever loved-or hated!-bugs.