Book Review

These two newly published pocket-sized guides make an interesting contrast and seem to be aimed at rather different markets. The Matthew Oates book, which is published by the National Trust, is primarily an introduction to butterflies for those new to the subject. There are introductory sections on habitats, lifespans, flight seasons, courtship and mating. The main section is a series of species accounts but only 35 UK species are included (plus five day-flying moths), which seems a strange decision in a book describing itself as a spotter's guide. Each species has a colour illustration by Ella Sienna, plus an underside where this may aid identification. The accounts are written in Matthew’s inimitable style and are fun to read, with snippets of information about butterfly behaviour that one will not see in other books. The species accounts are interspersed with sections on spotting and photographing butterflies, butterfly gardening and their inspiring beauty. The spotting theme is reflected in each species account, with space left at the bottom of the page for people to write in their own first sightings - an innovation which I am not sure really works as I cannot imagine many readers wanting to deface their book in this way. A glossary of butterfly terms is included as an appendix, plus a very short section of further reading.

If you enjoyed Andrew Fusek Peters’ Butterfly Safari, you will certainly enjoy his new title which features a further selection of his photos. There are some repeat images and others that were clearly photographed on the same occasion but what makes this book distinct is that, despite the smaller format, it contains much more information on the individual species and their conservation. While the earlier work could be described as largely photos with text, The Butterfly Book is definitely the reverse. This is largely down to Andrew’s co-author Jane Russ, who has taken on the challenge of main author. Jane, I’m sure, would not claim to be a butterfly expert but she is clearly very good at research and digging out interesting facts. As in Matthew’s book, there are sections on butterfly life cycles and plants to attract butterflies but there are also interesting sections on aberrations, butterfly predators and the work of Butterfly Conservation. In fact, there is a very generous dedication at the front of the book to volunteers in the West Midlands and a black-and-white photo of some of us working at Bury Ditches. I particularly enjoyed the sections on 'Butterflies in Myth and Legend' and 'Butterflies in Art and Literature', which contain a lot of information not included in other butterfly books. There are even some butterfly poems!

In many ways, the two books are complementary, covering their subject in very different ways. Both are inexpensive and, while neither can be viewed as a field guide, they are light to carry around and also light on the pocket. As Matthew remarks in his introduction, ‘You’ll never stop learning about butterflies: there are no experts, as butterflies are incredibly complex and ever changing… Keep your L-plates proudly on!’