This history of British butterflies is combined with a history of their collectors, without whose activities our knowledge of the identification, occurrence, distribution and variation would be much poorer. Liberally laced with contemporary quotations, and containing brief biographies and photographic portraits of about 100 early lepidopterists and their equipment, the volume presents 200 years of butterfly study, including the work of members of the Aurelian Society, founded in the early-18th century. Appendixes provide lists of the entomological societies, journals and transactions, and the collectors themselves, together with a check list of the British and Irish butterflies.

A BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED LOOK AT THE LIVES AND MIND-BOGGLING BEHAVIOURS OF INSECTS How to Read an Insect takes you on an unforgettable tour of the insect world, presenting these amazing creatures as you have never seen them before. This stunningly illustrated guide puts a wealth of fascinating behaviours under the microscope - from elegant displays of courtship to brutal acts of predation. Along the way, Ross Piper charts the evolution of insects and reveals everything you need to know about how they nest, feed, reproduce and defend themselves. He concludes by discussing the impact of the human world on insects, and what we can do to prevent their decline in numbers. * Explores the remarkable lifestyles of exotic insects as well as those in your own garden. * Includes highlights from a wide range of new insect behaviour studies. * Features a wealth of breathtaking colour photos, illustrations, and graphics.

The ultimate visual journey into the beautiful and complex world of wasps Wasps are far more diverse than the familiar yellowjackets and hornets that harass picnickers and build nests under the eaves of our homes. These amazing, mostly solitary creatures thrive in nearly every habitat on Earth, and their influence on our lives is overwhelmingly beneficial. Wasps are agents of pest control in agriculture and gardens. They are subjects of study in medicine, engineering, and other important fields. Wasps pollinate flowers, engage in symbiotic relationships with other organisms, and create architectural masterpieces in the form of their nests. This richly illustrated book introduces you to some of the most spectacular members of the wasp realm, colorful in both appearance and lifestyle. From minute fairyflies to gargantuan tarantula hawks, wasps exploit almost every niche on the planet. So successful are they at survival that other organisms emulate their appearance and behavior. The sting is the least reason to respect wasps and, as you will see, no reason to loathe them, either. Written by a leading authority on these remarkable insects, Wasps reveals a world of staggering variety and endless fascination. Packed with more than 150 incredible color photos Includes a wealth of eye-popping infographics Provides comprehensive treatments of most wasp families Describes wasp species from all corners of the world Covers wasp evolution, ecology, physiology, diversity, and behavior Highlights the positive relationships wasps share with humans and the environment

Moths is an accessible introduction to the stunning diversity, life habits and evolution of moths. This insect group encompasses 128 of the 135 families of the scaly winged insects (Lepidoptera), with some 140,000 known species. Moths are among the most successful of the Earth's inhabitants, with an ancient history, some fossils being dated to 190 million years old. This book traces the structure and development of these winged insects and reveals some of their extraordinary adaptations, such as caterpillars that communicate with ants, as well as ruthless survival tactics - including blood-sucking, feeding on the tears of sleeping birds, and cannibalism of their own mothers. It also exposes their essential roles in ecosystems and manifold interactions with humans. Often considered denizens of the night, hopelessly allured by light and voracious destroyers of clothes, the book shines a spotlight on moths, illuminating the bright side of their astonishing diversity.

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.

A complete beginner's guide to British moths. Moths are sometimes overlooked compared to the day-flying butterflies, however, many moths are even more colourful, accessible and fascinating. Britain and Ireland are home to an incredible array of moths, with more than 2,500 species known, and increasing numbers of people have discovered the joy in watching, catching and photographing this diverse group. But, where should you start in being able to identify them? 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. From the author of Much Ado About Mothing, this is the perfect companion for anyone wanting to learn more about these beautiful and remarkable creatures - from hawk-moths to tigers and ermines to emeralds.

'A beautiful gift... Full of fascinating facts' Yorkshire Post 'We all want to help the beleaguered bee and Sally Coulthard's latest book is a great place to start' Amateur Gardening 'How to help bees thrive and give your garden a real buzz' You Magazine We need bees. These tiny, hardworking insects have transformed our lives with their quiet diligence; fertilizing the wild plants we rely on, and giving us thousands of years of sugary pleasure. But bees are in danger; across the planet, their numbers are plummeting. Sally Coulthard is here to share fifty ways we can all save bees. Whether you garden for bees, campaign for bees, or just learn a bit of bee-whispering, little things can make a big difference. Just ask a bee.

This new edition of Sasol First Field Guide to Butterflies & Moths of Southern Africa has been fully updated and revised, bringing it in line with the most recent developments in field. It also features new images of all the species and families covered, facilitating quick, easy and accurate identification.

With the help of the full-colour photo graphs and easy-to-read text, the young adult and budding naturalist will be able to identify the more common butterfl ies and moth groups found in southern Africa, discover where they live, and learn about their unique behaviour and unusual features.

A fascinating look at the insect world found in one field in France - and how important that world is to all of us - from the author of the Sunday Times bestseller A Sting in the Tale In 2003 Dave Goulson bought a derelict farm in the heart of rural France, together with 33 acres of surrounding meadow. Over the course of a decade, he created a place for his beloved bumblebees to thrive along with myriad insects of every kind. In this book you will learn how a deathwatch beetle finds its mate, about the importance of houseflies, why butterflies have spots on their wings, about dragonfly sex, bed-bugs and wasps. But it is also a wake-up call, urging us to cherish and protect life on earth in all its forms. A Buzz in the Meadow is a captivating look at our natural world and a call to arms for nature-lovers everywhere. 'Glorious' The Times 'Captivating' Independent

A handy, pocket-sized guide to 220 of the world's spiders, Gem Spiders is the perfect introduction to these 'creepy-crawlies' There are approximately 35,000 known species of spider in the world, but it is estimated that the true number in existence could be nearer 70,000. They occur everwhere naturally and, because of their sharp bite and venom, they are one of the most successful groups of animal. Each entry includes: A photograph of the spider and details of any distinguishing features which may help identification Information on size, web, habitat, distribution range and the times of the year when it is most likely to be spotted An icon shows the potency of each spider's venom Each species is sorted by family and illustrated with a symbol, enabling you to quickly find what you are looking for. There is a detailed introduction which covers aspects of spiders' natural history, their relatives, anatomy, the production and uses of silk. From the Goliath Tarantula to the patu digua, this photographic guide is the perfect introduction for those who want to learn about these fascinating creatures.

Sasol First Field Guide to Spiders & Scorpions of Southern Africa provides fascinating insight into the arachnids of the region. Through full-colour photographs and easy-to-read text, the young adult and budding naturalist will be able to identify the more common species found in southern Africa, discover where they live, and learn about their unique habits.

This beautifully illustrated bingo game features 64 species of bugs from around the world. Identify all kinds of insects from the Giant Hawker Dragonfly to the Kissing Bug and the Orchid Bee to the Sacred Scarab mark them off on your card and bingo! Bug Bingo brings a fun and educational twist to the traditional game as players learn the names and colourings of both favourite species like the Honey Bee and more exotic bugs like the Vampire Moth. Contains one masterboard, 64 superbly illustrated bug tokens, 12 bingo cards and brightly coloured counters for you to mark up your card, as well as a leaflet containing basic information and a few quirky traits for all of the bugs featured. (Carries EU Toy Safety Directive 'CE' logo).

'A funny and beautifully written welcome to the enigmatic, weird and wonderful world of wasps' DAVE GOULSON, author of SILENT EARTH There may be no insect with a worse reputation than the wasp, and none guarding so many undiscovered wonders. Where bees and ants have long been the darlings of the insect world, wasps are much older, cleverer and more diverse. They are the bee's evolutionary ancestors - flying 100 million years earlier - and today they are just as essential for the survival of our environment. A bee, ecologist Professor Seirian Sumner argues, is just a wasp that has forgotten how to hunt. For readers of Entangled Life, Other Minds and The Gospel of Eels, this is a book to upturn your expectations about one overlooked animal and the wider architecture of our natural world. With endless surprises, this book might teach you about the wasps that spend their entire lives sealed inside a fig, about stinging wasps, about parasitic wasps, about wasps that turn cockroaches into living zombies, about how wasps taught us to make paper. It offers up a maligned insect in all its diverse, unexpected splendour; as both predator and pollinator, the wasp is an essential pest controller worldwide. Inside their sophisticated social worlds is the best model we have for the earth's major evolutionary transitions. In their understudied biology are clues to progressing medicine, including a possible cure for cancer. The closer you look at these spurned, winged insects - both custodians and bouncers of our planet - the more you see. Their secrets have so far gone mostly untapped, but the potential of the wasp is endless.

From the best-selling illustrator of Flip-a-Feather, Mix-a-Mutt, Flip-o-saurus, and Flip-o-storic comes another book with charming artwork and die-cut pages for flip-and-flop fun ― this time with insects! Build-a-Bug lets you create wacky combinations of ten types of insects, including a curious beetle, a climbing caterpillar, and a buzzing honey bee. Each flap includes a fun fact about the pictured species, and inside the front cover is a chart showing the relative sizes of the insects featured, from the ant to the praying mantis.

The perfect book for any gardener looking to get back in touch with their wild side.

The rewilding of public spaces and farmland is vitally important to conservation, but how can we support native species and provide rich habitats on our own doorsteps?

In this practical, beautifully illustrated guide horticulturalist and Gardener's World presenter Frances Tophill shows you how to plan and maintain a beautiful garden that will attract bees and birds as well as a throng of unsung garden heroes. Whether you have a small balcony or a large open space, discover the joys of welcoming natural ecosystems back into your garden - along with a host of new visitors.

Of the 25,000 known species of bee worldwide, only seven species are honeybees. Bees and plants have a sophisticated and delicate symbiosis. In recent years, the shrinking of green spaces has endangered the honeybee. Now Planting for Honeybees shows you how you can help these delightful pollinators to flourish by creating a garden as a habitat for them. No matter how small or large your space - from a window ledge in the city to a country garden - Sarah Wyndham Lewis offers practical advice on which plants to grow, and when and where to plant them. Charmingly illustrated with delicate drawings, this a jewel of a guide to treasure.