Product Description

Packed with the stunning photography of Chris Manley, this new photographic guide is the perfect guide to Britain's moths and butterflies. Its coverage is broad, including all of the 800 or so macro-moths (within which the butterflies are placed), including all vagrants, and many of the micros, along with some 300 types of caterpillars. The authoritative text provides important information on identification, size and larval food plant for each species, with introductory sections detailing habitats, life cycles, conservation, and trapping and photographic techniques. With many people now setting up their own backyard moth traps or interested to know which species are fluttering around their light bulbs, this book provides a superb introduction to this fascinating insect group.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19515 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
"A valuable identification tool for novices and experts alike"
--Sussex Wildlife Trust (

' Jam-packed with photographs...this book really is superb and the quality of the photographs excellent. I'd say that you should make room on your bookshelf for this but I suspect you will use it so frequently it will rarely be on the shelf! ' --Bulletin of the Amateur Entomologists Society (Feb 09)

"For relative beginners as myself, a good field guide is essential and the recently published British Moths & Butterflies by Chris Manley ticks all the right boxes as an introduction to this fascinating groupd of insects."
--thevisitor.co.uk, August 6, 2009

About the Author
Chris Manley is an author, sculptor and moth specialist. Beyond his detailed knowledge of lepidopterans gained through years of study, Chris is an insect photographer of rare talent. His previous book The Moths of Trigon, is a photographic guide to the 500 species in that corner of Dorset.

Customer Reviews

Worth the wait
Following Chris's previous book, the Moths of Trigon, this new book has been eagerly anticipated, and I have not been disappointed. Most of the photos are excellent: clear, good colour definition, and being live insects, are shown in natural poses. The text is concise, giving B & F number, name and latin name, size, status, flight time and broad distribution and habitat, and any simple diagnostic feature, followed by foodplant, and finally with the photographers initials. For example, the entry for 1676 Mocha Cyclophona annularia reads "24mm Nb. May-Jun, Jul-Aug. Very local in southern England in mature maple woods. Unmistakeable moth with yellow and chocolate markings. FP Field Maple PGC". The selection of macros covered is fairly arbitrary, with photos of some species which have been recorded only once or twice i.e. Lorimer's Rustic, but there is no photo of the regular form of Map-winged Swift. The book itself, a paperback, is well produced, and easy to use, with a full index, and a list of larval foodplants.

It is particularly pleasing to see a collection of photographs of the more common micros, and I am sure this will be an invaluable aid to those of us who have trouble remembering the latin names of some of these species. In some ways although fulfilling much of what it set out to do, it could have gone one step further; there are plenty of books with photos of butterflies, and the small number of caterpillar and egg photos are of limited use, but to have had rather more micro photos would have been great - an opportunity missed.
I for one will have two copies, one for my bookshelf, and one for a quick reference guide for those micros, and would thoroughly recommend this as a very useful addition to your library.

A Photographic Guide to British Moths and Butterflies by Chris Manley
This book is a magnificent accomplishment. Not only has Manley made a tremendous contribution with his own beautiful photographs of many of the species ilustrated, sometimes (and helpfully) with more than one shot of a species, but he has also included a wide coverage of first class photographs from an impressive array of other gifted photographers. The 500 Microlepidoptera illustrations will be a big help to those struggling with identification problems in this difficult area. It supplements the excellent help available on the Web from UKMoths, UKLepidoptera, several excellent county websites and lepiforum.de, and will be near at hand beside the books by Skinner, Waring et al, Brooks and Goater whenever our Moth trap is checked.

British Moths And Butterflies
British Moths and Butterflies: A Photographic Guide
This is a first class book for all who are interested in moths and butterflies. The photos are of a high class and make identification easy especially on the micro moths. This is one book you have to have in your library of natural history. I have many friends in the Butterfly Society and none have given bad reviews.