Gibbons - FIELD GUIDE TO INSECTS OF BRITAIN AND NORTHERN EUROPE

The black line delineates the main area covered by this book.

When using the book to try to identify an insect, ideally you should have the book there at the time; it is designed to be portable, and used in the field. It is surprisingly easy to see an insect that appears to be highly distinctive at the time and to find, on later examination of illustrations, that there are several similar-looking species. It can then be very difficult to recall which key features your insect possessed!

If you already know which order the insect belongs to, it is a quick process to flick through the pictures to see if there is anything like it. If so, check the timing and distribution to see if its occurrence is likely, then read the similar species to see if anything fits better. If you are uncertain where the insect fits into the scheme of things, you can use the illustrated key to the main groups of adult insects. For this, you need to be able to see the details clearly; it can be helpful to catch the insect and examine it in a clear container, releasing it afterwards. Alternatively, you can scan through the photographs in the whole book, leaving aside groups to which the insect obviously does not belong. For example, if you had a stonefly, it would be readily obvious that it was not a butterfly, dragonfly, grasshopper or cricket, even though you had no idea what it actually was. Once narrowed down, the procedure is the same as above.

The layout of each species description follows a roughly constant pattern, though this is necessarily altered at times, according to the type of insect.

If the whole description is preceded by the symbol , this denotes that the insect does not normally occur in the UK. This speeds up the process of checking through possibilities if you are working within the UK.

This is followed by the English name, where there is one. Many insects are not well enough known to have an English name, and in such cases the description starts with the scientific name, in italics. In a few instances, where the name has been changed recently and the old one was familiar, alternative scientific names have been given.

Next comes a description of the insect, beginning with a general indication of size, shape, colour and key anatomical features, particularly mentioning any variations from the illustrated type and highlighting features which need close examination.

The section beginning Habitat describes the habitats in which the insect commonly occurs, indicating any differences between countries, and especially differences between the UK and mainland Europe, if appropriate. (It is surprising how often such differences exist.) This section can only be a guide, as many insects occur in too wide a spectrum of habitats to mention them all, and others such as larger dragonflies and butterflies can range widely through almost any habitat, if only in passing.

The part of the description beginning Status and distribution indicates the rough distribution of the insect, and its relative abundance. Where appropriate, the UK distribution is described separately. The terms used, in order of decreasing abundance, are: abundant, common, frequent, local and rare, qualified as necessary, though they should only be taken as a guide, and there can be enormous annual variations with some insects. There are also many species for which this information is simply not fully available.

The abbreviation Season indicates the period when the insect is most likely to be seen. Unless otherwise qualified, it refers to active adults. There is a good deal of potential variation within this, according to geographical location, the weather in a particular year, and the habits of individual species. Generally species appear earlier and survive later in warmer places: in the UK, coastal south-western areas are especially mild, and on the Continent, the W coast of France, and southern areas in general, are the warmest. A mild frost-free autumn may extend the flight period of many summer insects well into November. Some insects, especially aquatic ones, may remain adult all year, but they become less active, or totally inactive, in cold weather; in these cases, only the period during which they are most likely to be seen are given.