Field / Identification Guide Identification Key
By: Rachel Hamilton(Author), Chris Gibson(Author), Robert Still(Author)
320 pages, 2000 colour photos, colour illustrations, colour distribution maps
This pocket guide is chock full of colour photos and macroshots to allow for confident identification of the most common wild flowers of the British Islesn.
![British & Irish Wild Flowers and Plants]( "British & Irish Wild Flowers and Plants")
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About this book
This innovative photographic guide covers the most common wildflowers and other plants found in Great Britain and Ireland, as defined by the very latest distribution maps. It is designed so that anyone faced with an unfamiliar wild plant can confidently put a name to the species or recognise that it is a less common plant needing further investigation. The identification process is based on standard botanical features that are straightforwardly described, clearly illustrated and supported by a simple visual key to families. This book can be your springboard into the wider world of botanical identification, wherever you are, and of plants both common and rare.
Customer Reviews (1)
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If you are only going to buy one wildflower guide, this is the one
By
Kelvin
17 Jun 2024
Written for Flexibound
I think I might have most of the available Flower Field Guides and they are all different, each with its strengths and weaknesses, now we have a guide that is easy to use, and importantly, easy to carry with you. Unlike a lot of others, this guide does not try to identify every species in the UK, it restricts itself to those you are most likely to encounter and this is its strength, you don't get buried in a compost heap of similar species that you probably will never stumble across – it is ideal for the beginner but equally valuable for the most experienced flower finder.
Of special value to the real novice is the series of Galleries close to the front of the guide. These deal with the general look of a flower through its shape, colour, number of petals but also include leaf shape, fruits and cones and for the off-season botaniser twigs to keep you out and about during the leafless winter looking at trees. The Galleries point you in the right direction and take you to the correct section of the guide, where similar or closely related plants and their flowers are compared using all the relevant characters illustrated side by side through, clear photographs. It only takes minutes to zero in on a reliable identification, and if you can't get a match, you know to consult another more comprehensive work, or an expert. It even makes some of the more difficult groups like ferns, grasses sedges and rushes so much more accessible. The Wildguide Series as a whole takes a fresh approach to field identification, British & Irish Wild Flowers and Plants follows the pattern but is arguably the easiest to use. Small enough for any pocket it is a must for every budding botanist and an ideal companion for anyone who loves the countryside and wants to know what they are looking at.
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Biography
Rachel Hamilton has spent a lifetime teaching botany, ecology and conservation at every level, and has earned a reputation for helping newcomers understand and overcome challenges in identifying plants. Chris Gibson worked in nature conservation for three decades and now devotes his time to encouraging others to share his love of the natural world, through words, images and experiences. Robert Still is publishing director of WILDGuides, a prolific natural history author and a skilled field botanist and plant photographer.
Field / Identification Guide Identification Key
By: Rachel Hamilton(Author), Chris Gibson(Author), Robert Still(Author)
320 pages, 2000 colour photos, colour illustrations, colour distribution maps
This pocket guide is chock full of colour photos and macroshots to allow for confident identification of the most common wild flowers of the British Islesn.
"There is already a wide choice of new and established wild flower identification books on the market, and so it takes something pretty special to stand out, and that is exactly what this latest addition to the WILDGuides series achieves. British & Irish Wild Flowers and Plants: A Pocket Guide is a game-changer. Unlike some of its competitors, the focus of this new field guide is clearly on what a beginner botanist needs to know to identify wild plants for the first time, rather than assuming any prior knowledge. [...] One of the most dispiriting and unsatisfactory experiences for a new botanist is the need to ‘page flick’ through a whole field guide to try and match the flower they have found to an illustration. Here, a clear and pragmatic process is set out to help someone new to wild flowers narrow down their find to a group of plants, so that they can quickly zero in on the likely set of species descriptions. Identification keys for plant families have always been notoriously difficult for beginners to navigate, so this is a real achievement [...] I am often asked to recommend a field guide for the introductory identification courses I teach, and this will be top of my list going forward. And while its value for beginners to wild flower identification is clear, it could also help intermediate field botanists plug gaps in their knowledge, help them separate out some of the trickier or newer widespread species, and provide ideas for how best they can themselves share their knowledge with beginners."
– Amanda Tuke, British Wildlife 36.3, December 2024
