ID Resources
If you've not already done so, you might like to read the Getting Identification Help page for guidance on how to use the NatureSpot site for help. The resources below offer further help for you to identify and/or find out more about about the wildlife species you can find in Leicestershire and Rutland. For each wildlife group, we have tried to select internet resources as well as books. If you can recommend other ideas, please contact us with details.
Where appropriate, the book references offer links to Amazon.co.uk where the prices are normally very competitive. If you buy from these links you will pay nothing extra but will help to generate a small commission to help NatureSpot. Thank you.
| General - internet | General - books |
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The Garden Safari is a great site for a images and information about a wide range of creatures that can be found in gardens. |
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| Birds - internet | Birds - books |
| Leicestershire & Rutland Ornithological Society - brilliant local site with up to date news on what birds are around at the moment. Also has a guide to good local birding sites. |
Collins Bird Guide - for Britain and Europe, if you only get one bird guide, get this one! It is available in softback, hardback and large format. |
| RSPB - comprehensive guide to British birds. Also, try out their Bird Identifyer tool. | Collins Field Guide: Bird Songs and Calls of Britain and Northern Europe (Contains 2 accompanying CDs) - useful reference guide to bird sounds. |
| Mammals - internet | Mammals - books |
Mammals of Britain and Europe (Collins Field Guide) - useful book but covers European mammals as well as British species. |
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| Amphibians - internet | Amphibians - books |
Reptiles and Amphibians of Britain and Europe (Collins Field Guide) - comprehensive guide. |
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| Reptiles - internet | Reptiles - books |
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Reptiles and Amphibians of Britain and Europe (Collins Field Guide) - comprehensive guide. |
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| Fish - internet | Fish - books |
| Insects - internet | Insects - books |
Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe (Collins Pocket Guide) - an excellent guide to all insects, with a good beetle section. |
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| Butterflies - internet | Butterflies - books |
| UK Butterflies - an excellent site with many images plus comprehensive information about all the British found species. |
Pocket Guide to the Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland - excellent illustrations. |
Discover Butterflies in Britain - a lovely book describing every British species with good photographs and a very useful gazeteer of where and when to find them. |
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| Moths - internet | Moths - books |
| UK Moths - the best and most comprehensive photographic identification guide to all British moths. Has a useful search function with thumbnail views as an option. |
Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland - fantastic book with brilliant life-like illustrations and showing the range of colours and patterns. Does not cover micro-moths. The Concise Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland is a spiral-bound edition with the same illustrations as the above, but with reduced descriptive text. Useful to take into the field but get the full version if you only get one. |
| Jeff Higgott's UK Lepidoptera is an excellent photographic id site, covering all moths and butterflies |
British Moths and Butterflies: A Photographic Guide - excellent photographs and also covers many micro-moths too. Best as a companion to the Field Guide above. |
| Caterpillars - internet | Caterpillars - books |
| Field Guide to the Caterpillars of Britain and Europe (Collins Field Guide) - includes moths and butterflies. Illustrations are not the best but it does usefully group caterpillars by their food plants. | |
The Colour Identification Guide to Caterpillars of the British Isles: (Macrolepidoptera) - photographic guide. |
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| Dragonflies - internet | Dragonflies - books |
| Leicestershire & Rutland Dragonfly Group - excellent site with photos, notes and local distribution guide. | Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland - excellent book with wonderful illustrations and interesting text. |
| Beetles - internet | Beetles - books |
| Beetles of Germany - wonderful site with top class images. Many of the species are the same as those found in the UK. | The Carabidae (ground beetles) of Britain and Ireland - a specialist key but with colour illustrations to many species. The Royal Entomological Society has keys for other beetle families in the series but not all are illustrated. |
| The Ground Beetles of Ireland - great photos of live beetles. Has a photographic key. | Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe (Collins Pocket Guide) - an excellent guide to all insects, with a good beetle section. |
| Mark Telfer's Beetles - very useful guide to studying beetles with test keys for carabids and staphylinids. | Longhorn Beetles - an excellent 2 part identification guide published in British Wildlife Part 1:18:406-14, Aug 2007, Part 2: 19:35-43, Oct 07. |
| The Coleopterist - a comprehensive site about UK beetles. Has over 700 beetle photos though layout is not easy to use for finding a look-alike. |
The Leicestershire Coleopterists - Derek Lott's fascinating account of 200 years of beetle hunting in the County. |
| Watford Coleopterist Group - a very useful gallery with quality photos (of mounted specimens) and some good ID guides. | |
| European Carabidae - excellent site with comprehensive gallery of high quality images. Has a great function to allow comparison of selected species. | |
| Woodland Trust Ladybird Guide - download this 5 page photo guide to British ladybirds. | |
| Ladybird larvae - photo id pdf from the Ladybird Survey. | |
| Bugs - internet | Bugs - books |
| The new British Bugs web site is one of the best of all wildlife guides. Highly recommended. | |
| UK Shield Bugs Yahoo Forum - it is free to join then you can access the photo library and ask for identification help. | |
| Bees, Wasps & Ants - internet | Bees, Wasps & Ants - books |
| BWARS - Bee, Wasp, Ant Recording Scheme - excellent site with good photos, information and keys to download. |
Field Guide to the Bumblebees of Great Britain and Ireland - a small but handy guide with both photographs of each species and a useful comparative table of colours and patterns. |
| NHM - Bumble Bee ID - an easy on-line key based on colour, developed by the Natural History Museum. |
Ants (Naturalists' Handbook) - a small but useful book with keys. |
| Bumblebee.org - everything you ever wanted to know about bumblebees! | |
| HymIS Identification Forum - post your images on this site to get identification help. | |
| HymIS Gallery - a German site (in English) with a comprehensive photo gallery. | |
| Rutkies Gallery - German enthusiast has collected many good quality images of wasps and bees. Covers other insect groups too. | |
| Solitary Bees - describes those species most likely to be seen in British gardens. | |
| Myrm's Ant Nest - some good photos and notes about the commoner ant species. | |
| Sawflies - internet | Sawflies - books |
| Hoverflies - internet | Hoverflies - books |
| Hoverfly Recording Scheme - forum based site with lots of photos and expert help available if you register (free). |
British Hoverflies: An Illustrated Identification Guide - if you are serious about getting to grips with hoverflies, this is the only book. It is very comprehensive and has colour plates of most species. |
| British Hoverflies - a hoverfly enthusiast's site with lots of quality photos. | |
| Flies - internet | Flies - books |
| Diptera.info - a forum site with some photos but best used to get identification help. Just upload an image and be surprised how quickly you get a response. |
British Soldierflies and Their Allies: A Field Guide to the Larger British Brachycera - a sister publication to the hoverfly book above. |
| Grasshoppers & Crickets - internet | Grasshoppers & Crickets - books |
| Orthoptera & Allied Insects (of the UK) - an excellent site with detailed accounts and pictures of all UK species. |
Grasshoppers and Allied Insects of Great Britain and Ireland - excellent, though expensive, guide with high quality illustrations and UK distribution maps. Covers crickets, cockroaches and earwigs. |
| David Element's Gallery - useful catalogue of orthopteran photos, though layout is limited. | |
| Mayflies - internet | Mayflies - books |
| Caddisflies - internet | Caddisflies - books |
| Barkflies & Booklice - internet | Barkflies & Booklice - books |
| Barkflies - National Recording Scheme - excellent guide to Pscoptera. Good gallery plus a superb on-line key to guide you to an identification. | |
| Lacewings & Scorpionflies - internet | Lacewings & Scorpionflies - books |
| Spingtails & Bristletails - internet | Spingtails & Bristletails - books |
| Spiders, Harvestmen & Mites - internet | Spiders, Harvestmen & Mites - books |
| Eurospiders - high quality images of many species (not just British). |
Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe (Collins Field Guide) - has detailed descriptions of just about all UK species and very technical identification advice. The illustrations are OK and don't always show males and females, even though they can be very different. |
| Spiders of Europe - a very good site with a photo guide to families to help you find the right area. | Harvestmen of the British Isles - one of the fold-out charts produced by the Field Studies Council - excellent value. |
| Harvestmen of Nottinghamshire - excellent photos and descriptions. Particularly useful as it is our neighbouring county with similar species. | Harvestmen (Synopsis of the British Fauna) - though pricey (£29) this is THE book to get if you are serious about this group. |
| Centipedes & Millipedes - internet | Centipedes & Millipedes - books |
| British Myriapod Recording Group - a useful portal to resources such as keys for miilipedes, centipedes and woodlice. |
Atlas of the Millipedes (Diplopoda) of Britain and Ireland (Pensoft Series Faunistica) - useful information about the distribution of all UK species but not helpful for identification. |
| Woodlice, Crustaceans - internet | Woodlice, Crustaceans - books |
| British Myriapod Recording Group - a useful portal to resources such as keys for miilipedes, centipedes and woodlice. | A Key to the Woodlice of Britain and Ireland - part of the AIDGAP series produced by the Field Studies Council. Excellent. Includes good photos as well as the key. |
Woodlice and Waterlice (isopoda: Oniscidea & Asellota) in Britain and Ireland - includes photos, descriptions and distribution maps. Has useful photos to help with identification, though not designed as an id guide. |
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| Slugs & Snails - internet | Slugs & Snails - books |
| Guide to Nottinghamshire Slugs - very useful photo guide to 12 common slugs. |
A Field Guide to the Land Snails of Britain and North-West Europe (Collins Field Guide) - probably the best around for this group. Includes slugs and has colour plates. |
| Worms - internet | Worms - books |
| OPAL Earthworm Guide - great photo library and a downloadable key to the more common species. | |
| Wildflowers - internet | Wildflowers - books |
| British Wild Flowers - an enthusiast's photo site. Comprehensive photo library but only one species at a time. |
The Wild Flowers of Britain and Ireland: A New Guide to Our Wild Flowers (Tandem) Flora of Leicestershire - free pdf download (be patient, it's a large file!) |
| Trees, Shrubs & Climbers - internet | Trees, Shrubs & Climbers - books |
Collins Tree Guide - a comprehensive guide though includes European species too. |
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| Grasses, Sedges & Rushes - internet | Grasses, Sedges & Rushes - books |
| Mosses & Liverworts - internet | Mosses & Liverworts - books |
| Mosses and Liverworts of Britain and Ireland: A Field Guide (mentioned in the books column opposite) is also available in a free-to-access on-line version. |
Mosses and Liverworts of Britain and Ireland: A Field Guide is possibly the book we've all been waiting for - an accessible guide for non-specialists. |
| Galls - internet | Galls - books |
| British Plant Gall Society web site |
British Plant Galls keys [Redfern, Shirley & Bloxham 2011] - one of the Aidgap series. |
| Fungi - internet | Fungi - books |
| The British Mycological Society web site offers a wide range of information and resources, including a checklist of English names. |
Collins Complete Guide to British Mushrooms & Toadstools is a superb book, with great images and helpful text. |
Mushrooms - Roger Phillips' book remains one of the most comprehensive guide to UK fungi. |
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| Lichen - internet | Lichen - books |
- a classic illustrated field guide.