Product Description

A beautifully illustrated guide to the wide variety of species found in rivers, streams, lakes and ponds in Britain and Europe. Covering northern Europe, including the mainly freshwater environment of the Baltic Sea, 'Pocket Guide Freshwater Life' describes and illustrates over 900 species of plant and animal visible with the naked eye, from damsels and dragonflies to beetles and molluscs. This is the ideal freshwater companion, the most comprehensive pocket guide to the subject. It also makes a superb companion volume to 'Pocket Guide Sea Shore'. An easy-to-use key guides the user quickly to the correct species without using complex terminology. Each species is illustrated in colour with the relevant text on the facing page for quick and accurate identification. Artists include: / Denys Ovenden / Carol Roberts / Jonathan Latimer / Tony Disley / Felicity Cole

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57901 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
'Denys Ovenden captures so much detail and beauty in his drawings of insects such as the caddisflies, mayflies and stoneflies. His treatment of the water fleas would justly grace the wall of an art gallery.' British Wildlife 'Refreshing originality ! the unusual format works exceptionally well and beautifully depicts aquatic life from the unicellular paramecium to small fish and frogs.' Mark Cocker, The Guardian

About the Author
Malcolm Greenhalgh studied freshwater ecology and received his PhD in estuary ecology. As a freelance researcher and writer, he has appeared on television and the radio and has taught groups of naturalists and fly-fishers throughout northern Europe how to identify aquatic plants and animals. He has also carried out investigations into the plant and animal life of rivers and lakes for wildlife organisations and riparian owners and has published various papers, articles and books on the subject.

Customer Reviews

Almost perfect - nothing better on a market
An excellent guide I have been waiting long time for. I will be recommending it to all my students as a basic book for field excursions. But nothing is perfect: I miss that eggs/clutches/cocoons of neither group are not depicted as one readily finds this sort of evidence that something lives in a pond/stream.
Also, the variety of dipteran larvae is not shown with the same extensity as those of other groups although they are far the most species rich group of insects living in freshwater habitats. However, their selection in the guide is still very satisfactory for a freswater enthusiast. Regarding the planktonic microlife, i.e. when you need a microscope to appreciate the beauty of freshwater organisms from your plankton net, you will need another guide (I wish there would be some at this entry level); this book takes the plankton just marginally. But, for what it claims it is, i.e. what you can see by naked eye, it is a gem.

Excellent guide
Unlike many Collins wildlife guides that use photographs (always a bad idea) this is fully illustrated throughout to a very high standard. My only reservation is that it contains only a limited number of fish species.

Great for college
I got this book as I'm studying Freshwater and Marine Biology and wanted a rough guide to use in labs and to bring out on field trips, this book is really good! Most species you find in the field are in the book and it's a great reference too.
If you want a detailed guide probably not the best but for a rough guide it's and A+