Natural History Books

I have listed books that I own below and have indicated the ones that are the most treasured. Many are now out of print, although some have been replaced by newer versions if you want to purchase a copy. However if you buy a book, then hate it, don’t blame me!

THEME	TITLE	AUTHOR	PUBLISHER	ISBN	RATING	COMMENTS
General	Nature’s Calendar	Chris Packham et al.	Collins	7246465	********	Seasonal guide to GB wildlife sites – nicely put together
General	A Guide to the Vegetation of Britain and Europe	Oleg Polunin et al.	Oxford University Press	192177133	*****	Serious ecological guide
General	A Nature Journal	Richard Mabey	Chatto & Windus	701135077	*******	Reminiscences of nature
General	AA Book of Britain’s Countryside	Ed.: Rose Catt	Midsummer Books Ltd	074951860X	********	Great general background
General	The History of the Countryside	Oliver Rackham	JM Dent & Sons Ltd	460125524	*****	Definitive ground breaking work
General	The living Isles A Natural History of Britain and Ireland	Peter Crawford	Book Club Associates	563203692	*******	General background
General	Reader’s Digest Wildlife Watch – Grassland & Woodland in Spring	Reader’s Digest	Reader’s Digest	27642838	********	Packed full of information with colourful photos and illustrations, although subject too wide for book
General	Reader’s Digest Wildlife Watch – Gardens & Parks in Spring	Reader’s Digest	Reader’s Digest	276428821	*******	Packed full of information with colourful photos and illustrations
General	Nick Baker’s British Wildlife – a month by month guide	Nick Baker	The Wildlife Trust	1843300605	*****	A great inspiration to get out there
General	The Macmillan Guide to Britain’s Nature Reserves	J Hywel-Davies	MacMillan	333467906	*****	Definitive countrywide nature reserves guide
General	The Natural History Britain and Ireland	Heather Angel	Mermaid Books	718125576	*******	Slightly dated, but good generalist book
General	A year in Nature notes	Derwent May	Times Books	7181906	********	Evocative calendar of the wildlife year
General	The Four Seasons (The Living Countryside)	Bob Gibbons et al.	Readers Digest	276396618	********	Excellent seasonal guide
General	Nature’s Year	Maribel Edwin	Longmans	None	**	Very dated but some interesting details
General	Ladybird Nature Books (series): What to look for in Spring, Summer, Autumn & Winter	EL Grant Watson with CF Tunnicliffe illustrations	Wills & Hepworth Ltd	None	*****	Classics and a must for reminiscing
Habitats	Seashore	P J Hayward	New Naturalist	2200309	********	A new member of the NN Series – not for the faint hearted as very scientific
Habitats	Woodlands	Oliver Rackham	New Naturalist	7202431	********	A new member of the NN Series – Important reading for any serious naturalist
Habitats	Wildlife of Coastal Waters	Tony Soper	Bradt	1841620580	*******	Nicely written but over priced
Habitats	The Observer’s Book of Pond Life	John Clegg	Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd	None	*******	One of a series with wide general information, dated.
Habitats	The Natural History of Britain and Northern Europe – Coasts and Estuaries	Richard Barnes et al.	Hodder & Stoughton	340231548	*******	Great series of books, packed full of information both species and habitat related. Bit dated
Habitats	Secrets of the Seashore (The Living Countryside)	Derek Hall et al	Readers Digest	276374363	********	Great series of books with engaging format. Slightly dated.
Habitats	Seashores and Shallow Seas of Britain and Europe	Andrew Cambell	Hamyln	753709589	********	Good broad ranging guide with nice clean illustrations
Plants	British Trees – A Guide for Everyman	Miles Hadfield	Dent	None	*****	Dated guide but a quality field guide holds
Plants	Collins Guide to the Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and Ferns of Britain and Northern Europe	Richard Fitter et al.	Collins	2191369	********	Classic field guide
Plants	Collins New Naturalists Series British Plant Life	WB Turrill	Collins	1870630831	*******	Dated but one of a classic series
Plants	Collins New Naturalists Series Wild Flowers	J Gilmour & M Walters	Collins	1870630785	*******	Dated but one of a classic series
Plants	Collins New Naturalists Series Wild flowers of chalk and limestone	JE Lousley	Collins	1870630548	*******	Dated but one of a classic series
Plants	Collins New Naturalists Series Wild Orchids of Britain	VS Summerhayes	Collins	2190869	*******	Dated but one of a classic series
Plants	Excursion flora of the British isles	AR Clapham et al.	Cambridge University Press	521232902	*****	Botanical field guide
Plants	Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain	Reader’ s Digest Assoc Ltd	Reader’ s Digest Assoc Ltd	276425065	*****	Attractive table-top guide
Plants	Flora Britannica	Richard Mabey	Sinclair-Steveson	1856193772	*****	Excellent tome detailing plant history and folk lore
Plants	Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of Britain	Harris et al.	Reader’ s Digest	?	*******	Solid reference book
Plants	Flora of the British Isles	Clapham et al.	Cambridge University Press	Unknown	*****	Botanical bible -now superceded by Stace’s work
Plants	Roger Philips Grasses, Ferns, Mosses & Lichens of Great Britain & Ireland	Roger Philips	Pan	330259598	*****	Photographs of plants -useful guide
Plants	Sedges of the British isles of the	AC Jermy et al.	BSBI	901158054	*****	Definitive botanists field guide
Plants	The Flowering of Britain	Richard Mabey & Tony Evans	Chatto & Windus	701134569	*****	Interesting history of many “native” plants
Plants	The Illustrated Book of Trees	AR Clapham	Peerage Books	907408486	*****	Colourful tree guide
Plants	The Wild Flower Key British Isles NW Europe	Francis Rose	Warne	723224188	*****	Recommended wild flower field guide
Plants	The Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe	Richard Fitter et al.	Collins	2197154	*****	Recommended wild flower field guide
Plants	Wild flowers of Britain	Roger Philips	Pan	033025183X	*****	Photographic plant calendar
Plants	The Oxford Book of Wild Flowers	BE Nicholson et al.	Oxford University Press	199100136	********	Great little guide
Plants	Field Guide to Wild Flowers of Britain & Northern Europe	B Gibbons & P Davies	Crowood Press	1852237848	*******	Photographic guide. Some pictures better than others
Plants	Britain’s Orchids	David Lang	WildGuides & English Nature	1903657067	********	Excellent guide to all British wild orchids, hot off the press
Plants	Wild Flowers of the Mediterranean	M Blamey & C Grey-Wilson	A C Black	713670150	*****	High quality floral guide for the Med.
Plants	The Wildfoods Cookbook	J Spoczynska	Comet	863790895	*******	Wild food cook book with some line drawings
Fungi	The Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain & Northern Europe	M Bon et al.	Hodder & Stoughton	038039925X	*****	Recommended fungi field guide
Fungi	Mushroom Magic	Michael Jordan	Elm Tree Books	3579108642	*******	Interesting and informative fungi book
Fungi	The New Guide to Mushrooms	Peter Jordan	Ultimate Editions	1860350445	********	Informative and nicely laid out. Resembles Roger Philips series
Fungi	Mushrooms – River Cottage Handbook	John Wright	Bloomsbury	9780747589327	********	Very readable guide to edible fungi – highly recommended
Birds	All the birds of the air	Francesca Greenoak	Andre Deutsch	233970371	*****	Fascinating wild bird folklore
Birds	Bill Oddie’s Birds of Britain and Ireland	Bill Oddie	New Holland	1853684880	*****	Great beginners guide and attractively illustrated
Birds	Bird habitats in Britain	RJ Fuller	T & AD Toyster	856610313	*****	Specialist’s ecological book
Birds	Identifying Birds by behaviour	Dominic Couzens	Collins	7199236	*****	Fantastic ‘giz’ guide to accompany other guides
Birds	Birdwatchers Pocket Guide	Peter Hayman\\RSPB	Mitchel Beazley	855331488	*****	Excellent, handy field guide
Birds	Field Guide to Birds of Britain	Burton et al.	Readers Digest	276002199	*****	Wonderful book with fabulous illustrations and good textual detail. Not a field guide that could be carried around
Birds	Download Wildlife – A Naturalists Year in North and South Downs	JF Burton & J Davis	George Philip	54012599	*****	Beautifully illustrated portrait of the South Downs
Birds	The Birds of Britain and Europe	Hermann Heizel et al.	Collins	2192101	*****	Recommended wild bird field guide
Birds	The Illustrated Birdwatcher’s Calendar	Bob Scott	Bounty Books	753709597	*******	Interesting book detailing bird migration
Birds	Reader’s Digest\AA Book of British Birds	Richard Fitter et al.	Drive Publications Ltd	unknown	********	Beautifully illustrated coffee table bird book
Birds	Collins Bird Guide	Keith & Gooders	Collins	2191199	********	High quality photographic bird guide
Birds	The New Bird Table Book	Tony Soper	Pan	330243594	*******	A classic, interesting book
Birds	Birds’ Eggs and Nests	Jan Hanzak	Hamlyn	600312410	**	Small and rather dated guide
Animals (other than birds)	A Field Guide to the Insects of Britain	Michael Chinery	Collins	2192160	********	Dated but high quality guide
Animals (other than birds)	Field Guide to the Butterflies and Other Insects of Britain	Dr John Feltwell et al.	Readers Digest	276425057	*****	Recommended as beautifully illustrated, but a bit light on details
Animals (other than birds)	Butterflies & Moths	John Still	Collins	2200104	*******	Reasonable quality images plus smallish drawings
Animals (other than birds)	A Guide to Bats of Britain and Europe	Wilfried Schober et al.	Hamlyn	06005642X	*****	Recommended bat field guide
Animals (other than birds)	Butterflies & Moths	B Hargreaves et al.	Collins Gem Guides	4588088	**	Beginner’s butterfly guide
Animals (other than birds)	Collins New Naturalists Series Reptiles and Amphibians	Deryk Frazer	Collins	187063041	*******	Dated but one of a classic series
Animals (other than birds)	Field Guide to the Animals of Britain	Dr Pat Morris (Reader’s Digest Assoc Ltd)	Hodder & Stoughton	276360060	*****	Beautifully illustrated coffee table guide
Animals (other than birds)	Mammals Tracks and Signs	R Brown & Mike Lawrence	Macdonald & Co	035609717X	********	Well thought out and illustrated small guide