 | Mushrooms by Roger Phillips
Buy new: £12.99 / Used from: £11.50 Roger Phillips' new version of the classic guide is the best yet - 1250 photos
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 | Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and Europe (Collins Field Guide) by Regis Courtecuisse
Much more exhaustive than Phillips - 3000 species, 1750 of which are illustrated - and the size of a true field guide. The illustrations are accurate and lifelike. It's worth owning them both.
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 | The Moss Flora of Britain and Ireland by A. J. E. Smith
Buy new: £53.14 / Used from: £74.32 The standard guide to the 760 species of Britain & Ireland
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 | The Liverworts of Britain and Ireland by Anthony John Edwin Smith
Buy new: £38.00 / Used from: £33.02 Not perhaps the best selling field guide on the list...
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 | Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and Ferns of Britain and Northern Europe (Collins Pocket Guide) by Richard Sidney Richmond Fitter
Buy used from: £23.78 Fitter, Fitter & Farrer's 1984 guide to those "not quite flowers"
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 | Colour Identification Guide to the Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and Ferns of the British Isles and North Western Europe by Francis Rose
Buy new: £30.22 / Used from: £29.20 Francis Rose's 1989 alternative to the Collins guide
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 | The Wild Flowers of Britain and Ireland: A New Guide to Our Wild Flowers (Tandem) by Marjorie Blamey
About the best non-specialist guide with delightful plates by Blamey - includes grasses and conspicuous ferns
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 | The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) - How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland by Francis Rose
Buy new: £15.24 / Used from: £14.25 The other great popular guide by Francis Rose in a new edition
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 | New Flora of the British Isles by Clive Anthony Stace
Buy new: £41.21 / Used from: £36.00 The standard Flora of the British Isles, covering all 4500+ species - for all serious botanists. This can - just - be used in the field, but see below
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 | Field Flora of the British Isles by Clive Anthony Stace
Buy new: £21.91 / Used from: £19.95 The abridged, field portable version of Stace above
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 | Insects of Britain and Northern Europe (Collins Field Guide) by Michael Chinery
Buy new: £17.50 / Used from: £14.74 This standard insect guide by Michael Chinery will take you to family and sometimes genus, mainly by use of keys
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 | Insects of Britain and Western Europe (Domino Field Guide) by Michael Chinery
Buy new: £8.49 / Used from: £8.00 For those who rely more on visual clues, this alternative Chinery identifies 2000+ insects - an ideal compliment to the above
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 | Britain's Dragonflies by Dave Smallshire
I hate to have to choose, but this is about the best dragonfly guide. Makes use of computer-enhanced photos
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 | Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland
Buy new: £17.06 / Used from: £14.49 If you can manage it, get Brooks & Lewington too - a wondeful guide with superb plates
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 | Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland by Paul Waring
Buy new: £29.95 / Used from: £24.99 There was South, then Skinner, but Richard Lewington's plates make this the definitive macro moth guide by far
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 | Britain's Butterflies (Wild Guides) by David Tomlinson
Buy new: £11.15 / Used from: £7.80 For butterflies you can't do much better than WILDGuides, again with the halmark computer-enhanced photography approach
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 | Butterflies of Britain and Europe (Collins Field Guide) by Tom Tolman
But I couldn't resist getting this too - again for Lewington's plates
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 | The Colour Identification Guide to Caterpillars of the British Isles: (Macrolepidoptera) by Jim Porter
While the books above do cover larval stages to some extent, this is the definitive guide to caterpillars
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 | Grasshoppers and Allied Insects of Great Britain and Ireland by Judith Marshall
Buy used from: £45.00 All the Orthoptera - grasshoppers and crickets
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 | British Hoverflies: An Illustrated Identification Guide by Alan E. Stubbs
Buy new: £30.00 The standard guide to all 276 British species
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 | Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe (Collins Field Guide) by Michael J. Roberts
Buy new: £13.50 / Used from: £11.26 If you must... The standard guide and much as I am curious about spiders, I have always found the plates a little off-putting. Certainly this guide can take me well beyond my level of expertise.
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 | Reptiles and Amphibians of Britain and Europe (Collins Field Guide) by Nick Arnold
Buy new: £14.73 / Used from: £13.99 The only guide to herps. Slightly awkward distribution of text, plates & maps.
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 | Collins Bird Guide: The Most Complete Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe by Lars Svensson
The only bird guide you will need - both in the UK and on the continent. Simply the best field guide to any avifauna.
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 | Mammals of Britain and Europe (Collins Field Guide) by David W. Macdonald
Buy new: £16.23 / Used from: £12.99 The standard guide by leading expert David MacDonald - feels in need of revision now.
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 | Whales and Dolphins of the European Atlantic (Ocean Guides) by Graeme Cresswell
Buy used from: £2.19 Covers all 27 species of whales & dolphins in a much more field friendly way to Macdonald - ideal for sea crossings
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