Pocket Guide to the Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland

The second edition of this very popular field guide departs very little from the format adopted in the original edition, gaining just 16 pages. The two significant changes are the inclusion of a very useful ‘at a glance’ guide, which allows the reader to very quickly make comparisons between closely related species, and the adoption of the latest taxonomic order, taken from A Checklist of the Lepidoptera of the British Isles (2013) by Agassiz et al.

The species accounts are largely unchanged, though Wood White and Cryptic Wood White now receive separate and full treatment, and each covers the main components you would expect to see in a field guide. These include a brief description of the species and its habits, a summary of the key features for egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and adult form, a flight period graph – which covers each life cycle stage – and the wonderful illustrations by Richard Lewington. The butterflies are illustrated at life size and each sex is shown with wings open and wings folded. Other key features (e.g. antennae) are also illustrated where useful for identification.

There have been a few small changes to the maps, most obviously picking up significant range changes – such as the presence of Essex Skipper in southeast Ireland and the loss of the more eastern colonies of High Brown Fritillary.

This is a good update to an already excellent book, with the addition of the ‘at a glance’ guide and new treatment of the wood whites likely to tempt some owners of the first edition to move to the new edition.

Book reviewed by Mike Toms