Nomads
of the wind
Nomads
of the Wind: The Migration of the Monarch Butterfly and other Wonders of the
Butterfly World. Ingo Arndt, Claus-Peter Lieckfeld, Peter Huemer.
Papadakis Publisher, London. 192 pp with colour plates. ISBN
978-1901092-92-9. £20 sterling.
Review
The
State of Butterflies in Britain and Ireland
Authors:
Richard Fox, Jim Asher, Tom Brereton, David Roy & Martin Warren
ISBN
1 874357 315. May 2006.
Publisher: Pisces Publications.
Price:
stg£12 + p&p
Available from: www.naturebureau.co.uk
This
major new landmark publication provides the first assessment of the changing
status of butterflies in the 21st Century, updating the Millennium Atlas of
Butterflies of Britain and Ireland.
Millennium Atlas of Butterflies in Britain and Ireland
Authors:
Jim Asher, Martin Warren, Richard
Fox, Paul Harding, Gail Jeffcoate, and Stephen Jeffcoate
RRP:
£30.00 (Hardback)
ISBN-10:
0-19-850565-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-850565-5
Publication date: 1 March 2001
Publishers: Oxford University Press
454 pages, numerous colour illustrations, maps and charts, 252mm x 200mm
This
full-colour, superbly illustrated atlas presents the findings of the most comprehensive
survey of butterflies ever undertaken in Britain and Ireland.
The Moss Flora of Britian and Ireland
Author:
A F Smith.
Publisher: Cambridge
University Press, 2004, second edition.
ISBN 0 521 81640 8 h/b, 0 521 54672 9 p/b.
The standard identification guide for mosses.
Lavishly illustrated throughout with B&W line drawings, etc.
A
second edition of Tony Smith’s Moss flora has arrived in Hodges Figgis at
>€80. The key to genera demands fluency in a technical vocabulary that is
as obfuscatory as ever, and the glossary one has to constantly turn to at the
back just emphasises that the book is big – something that bryologists have a
monopoly on (e.g. Chris Preston’s Atlas, Jean Paton’s Liverworts, David
Holyoak’s Ireland, and now this). In it one learns that a new term coma means
the whorl of larger leaves at the tip of a moss shoot.
Despite this grumble, bryology in Ireland will continue to progress rapidly. This book, when we get used to it, together with Jean Paton’s magnificent 1999 Liverwort Flora, will have a very important place for all students.
Medicinal Plants in Folk Tradition.
An
Ethnobotany of Britain and Ireland
David E.Allen and Gabrielle Hatfield. Timber Press,Cambridge. 2004
€33.30
My
great-grandmother from Co.Down believed that an infusion of “boor” tree or
elder was good for the complexion. She was not alone: the book records this use
of the plant in many parts of the British Isles. In many cases, however,
practice varies from place to place. In Ireland, Herb Robert is well known as a
remedy for red-water fever in cattle, while for humans it is recommended for
gallstones and diabetes among other ailments. In Wales, it is used for skin
ailments.
The
book is a collection of fascinating information collected, not from the official
medical formularies, but from folk memories, personal records and old
manuscripts. It is organised by family and genus and there is also an index of
ailments to be treated. Unfortunately, few recipes are given but there is an
extensive bibliography.
Several
Irish botanists contributed to the book and special thanks are given to Sylvia
Reynolds for her work in searching the Irish Folklore Commission’s Schools
Survey of the 1930s and for other information culled from a variety of sources.
Mary Carson
Larval
Foodplants of the Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland
Peter R May. The Amateur Entomologists’ Society. Orpington, Kent. 2003.
Pp 56.
Paperback £5.75.
ISBN 0-900054-69-7
For me, this is a very timely publication. Having recently observed a Small
White ovipositing
on Weld (Reseda luteola)
in disturbed ground with Brassicas, I am now able to confirm that
several Whites
make use of this plant. While much of the information in this booklet may be
available in a number of publications such as the Millennium Atlas (2001), it is not usually as comprehensive or
immediately accessible.
Seventy
one butterfly species, either native or migrant/vagrant are treated. A typical
entry
has a succinct overview – one of the shortest for Speckled Wood is
“Another grass feeder which ejects ova among suitable vegetation” –
followed by both the common and scientific names of nineteen known foodplants
found either in the wild or in cultivation. Where there is some
doubt about a
foodplant’s status a brief remark is made. The ten page addendum is a reprint
of Peter Cribb’s (1982) article entitled “How to encourage butterflies to
live in your garden”.
There is also a contents page with a list of butterfly
species and separate indexes to common
and scientific names of foodplants. There
are no illustrations to distract the reader while
checking information.
As
the text indicates, there is still work to be done on the status of foodplants
on species such
as the Large Heath. I can confirm that Bird’s-foot-trefoil is
a foodplant for Real’s Wood White (Leptidea
reali), in Ireland. How many of us have seen a Holly Blue laying eggs on
either
Dogwood or Gorse.
While
this publication is primarily written for those who are interested in breeding
livestock,
it challenges the reader to make observations, and should find a
niche on the bookshelves
of both field lepidopterists and those who confine
their observations to the garden.
David Nash
The Natural History of Ireland’s Dragonflies.
Brian
Nelson, Robert Thompson. National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland.
2004.
ISBN 0 900761 45 8
Stg£20
This is marvelous introduction to dragonflies with stunning photography. The familiar face of Colm Ronayne appears in two photographs in Chapter 10. The illustrations put this book into a league of its own, and would give anyone confidence to try to identify any dragonfly one might encounter. The text provides guidance with species recognition, life-cycle, behaviour, habitat, history, new information on species distribution compiled from the Dragonfly Ireland survey, and all in for a extraordinary low price. The next time you go to a bookshop do not leave without a copy.
