| Author | Brooks, S. (ed.) & Lewington, R. (illust.) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Title | Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland |
| ISBN | 0-953-13990-5 |
| Type | Book/Report |
| How Complete | All the resident and migrant species known at the time |
| Source | 2004 edition, 160pp, British Wildlife Publishing |
| Illustrations | Excellent colour paintings by Richard Lewington as well as diagrams, maps and some photographs. |
| Review (by Malcolm Storey) | An excellent modern guide to these insects written by a team of authors, and edited by Steve Brooks. Chapters cover life history, distribution, habitats and protected species. This is followed by a gazetteer of well known dragonfly sites. There is a key to species of larvae (nymphs) and to families of adults. The remainder of the book is taken up with species accounts. These are accompanied by excellent paintings, usually showing both sexes in dorsal view and a single side view, but often much more. There are also numerous illustrations of the diagnostic features, particularly for damselflies. There is also a page (142) of half tone illustrations of faces and line drawings of genitalia of the 8 species of Darters (Sympetrum spp). The dragonflies are illustrated at 1.4 times life size and the damsels at 1.8 |
| Examine | in the field in the field ( in the Hand is also useful) |
| Specimen Preparation | Live specimens, but some have to be closely examined |
| Identification difficulty | Comparatively straightforward, if you can catch the thing! |
