Which field guide do you use?

[MartinK9]

Collins Gem Food For Free by Richard Mabey
Collins Gem Trees

Not complete in my opinion, but small and great to start off with

 

[covertcraft]

The best thing I have (no joke) is a pocket sized digital camera with good macro facilities and a ruler. Using the ruler for scale I can take loads of pictures of animals, trees, fungi, tracks, plants, birds and identify them when I get home. If I go out to look at plants, I see birds. If its birds I spot an interesting tree.

I just can't carry them all and, to be honest, I don't want to plan to only observe one thing.

So, I take the camera, record, and look it up when I get home. I then file the photos by name.

You would be amazed how many times I have struggled to identify something, then found I had done so a couple of years before. The third time its usually "I've seen that before" and I look it up in my own pictures. Very rewarding that way. The dates on photos are handy for seasonality too.

Its an updated version of the old explorers sketchbook idea I suppose. There is nothing new after all

Red

I like your style, and I have the necessary kit so I'll be taking the camera out more often me thinks, got 14 acres of woodland to try and decipher!

 

[Jumbalaya]

The only guide I take out one when I'm going over a new and unfamiliar piece of ground/area is the pocket sized Fitter, Fitter & Blamey Wild Flowers of Great Britain & N. Europe. Normally I don't carry a guide with me, but it's just nice to check out an unknown plant if you happen to come across one.

Best
M

 

[BIGWOLFY]

It has been said many times before, The more knowledge you carry in your head the less you carry in your backpack.But for me it has to be Collins gem FOOD FOR FREE by Richard Mabey's in backpack size, This one is a must for any one into the bushcraft way of life.

 

[firecrest]

I have a collins `guide ti british trees` which is excellent. it has clear photos of the tree and a leaf/fruit next to it, and even different woods when found on the ground ormade into planks.

i cant name my books off the top of my head but Im always careful to buy guides to britain as many say "britain and europe" those are just not helpful, they cover too many species from a wider demographic, meaning that uncommon species are left out and a whole pile of plants you arent going to come across.

I have a flower book somewhere which actually as ordered the plants in order of flower colour. All the purples are together, all the pinks ect. ive found that to be very helpful.

 

[Rebel]

For general purpose use I use

"Complete British Wildlife Photoguide" Paul Sterry - Collins

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Complete-Guide-British-Wildlife/dp/0007236832/ref=pd_sim_b_1

It has just about everything you're likely to come across.

For flowers I use what I consider to be the most authoritative book

"The Wild Flower Key" Francis Rose
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wild-Flower...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241298927&sr=1-1

This book has all the flowers with a full description so that you can really be sure of your identification, it also has trees.

For grasses I use

"Grasses" Collins
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grasses-Sed...=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241299087&sr=1-9

I don't know why it's so expensive on Amazon the RRP on my copy is only £17.

For birds I think that the Collins book is the best
"Collins Bird Guide: The Most Complete Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe"

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Bir...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241299258&sr=1-1

For trees I think it has to be Collins again

"Collins Tree Guide"

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Tree-Guide-Owen-Johnson/dp/0007207719/ref=pd_sim_b_1

Dorling Kindersley's guide books are also very good.

 

[Broch]

As has been posted elsewhere on the forum - "The Works" (the high-street discount bookshop) has the Collins Complete British series for £4.99 a book - they're not ones I use personally but they look really good value for someone starting a reference collection.

The volumes I've seen there are birds, flowers, wildlife, and trees all full of good photographs.

Cheers,

Broch

 

[JDO330]

Ive just this minute ordered 3 of the collins gems: Trees, food for free & wild flowers from Amazon for just under £10 delivered. I reckon thats a pretty good price IMO.

Thanks to all for the above info which has influenced my purchase!

ATB, Jon.

 

[Leigh Robinson]

Don't be afraid to write in your books. For example I have Collins gem on trees. Adding notes to the pages I now can identify the tree, know how good it is for fire making, if it's edible and any other uses.

Just by adding notes I have made it so much more useful.

 

[littlebiglane]

I have the Fritter - Fritter and Blamey book and whilst okay I find it more tricky to use in the field as I can't work from the plant in front of me and locate it in the book as easily as I do with another guide I have. I also think the ilustrative detail (drawings) are much superior in the book below:

A Field Guide in Colour to Wild Flowers by Dietmar Aichele and illustrated by Marrianne Golte-Bechtle ISBN 0 7064 0474 2 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Field-Guide...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241940522&sr=1-1

 

[Chinkapin]

I have a wonderful guide to trees, It covers 500 species of trees from around the world.

It is part of a series called "Eyewitness Handbooks", Trees, Allen J., Coombes. Mr. Coombes is a Botanist at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens and Arboretum in Hampshire, England.

He is the author of "The Collingridge Dictionary of Plant Names" and "Bowood's Trees and Shrubs."

So, he is a Brit, and he knows trees. This book could be just what you are looking for if you are interested in trees. The thing I like about this book is that it is filled from front to back with sharp, clear color photographs and illustrations.

Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. copyright 1992. London. ISBN 1-56458-075X Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 92-52782

I have more complete references, for the U.S. but this is my "go to" reference.

 

[combatblade1]

I used to use a field guide, now i dont need one i have a walking field guide he is called Davy moulds!!

 

[hertsboy]

Best book 'I've come across in 35 years of Botanising (also helped me get by Botany Degree!) is the Concise Britsh Flora in Colour by W. Keble Martin - published by Ebury Press. It's not a pocket book --- but well worth carting around!

Having said that, I never take it out with me. If I come across a new plant, I'll try to identify the family it belongs to and try to remember what it looks like. Then open the Keble Martin when I get home and idenify it... works most of the time. And if there are numerous plants I might take a sample gome for identification - or a photo.

 

[Green Deane]

I don't carry any books into the field -- I teach foraging locally so it should be in my head. But my "plant" library has about 50 books in it, including material by Ray Mears. We have a lot of plants in common plus some techniques are transferable. When I find a plant of interest I take pictures of it and then go do the homework.

The problem here is most foraging books are for the central northern states. Regional ones are lacking or poor, though there is an excellent one for the Great Lakes area.

 

[xylaria]

I don't carry any books into the field -- I teach foraging locally so it should be in my head. But my "plant" library has about 50 books in it, including material by Ray Mears. We have a lot of plants in common plus some techniques are transferable. When I find a plant of interest I take pictures of it and then go do the homework.

The problem here is most foraging books are for the central northern states. Regional ones are lacking or poor, though there is an excellent one for the Great Lakes area.

You should write one then

 

[PJMCBear]

I'm another fan of this book. I think I've recommened it about half a dozen times now. It's one of the few that constantly sit on the bookshelf beside the bed.

I've recently been looking at a Blacks guide on medicinal plants. I was quite pleasantly surprised by it, so will probably look at some of the others too.

I recently bought the Hamlyn Guide to Edible and Medicinal Plants of Great Britain and Northern Europe ; launert, ISBN 978-0600352815 . It is 30 years old out of print, and cost me £20 from amazon, the information in it is unparralled and it is in the lay out of field guide. Excellent book but i wouldn't bring it out side. I tend to mark the margin of my usual field guide with edibility symbols.