New field guide

Just like any county, here in Montgomeryshire, micro-moths are under-recorded, certainly if you compare that with the macros. This may be partly because of lack of resources available, with no complete book covering everything, until now.

The new ‘Field Guide to the Micro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland’ is due to be published this May and has been written by Phil Sterling and Mark Parsons and illustrated by Richard Lewington. It said to cover over 1000 species, just omitting those species that look identical on external characteristics (i.e. most of the Coleophora). The book will be laid out very similar to its companion book by Waring and Townsend on the macros; detailing similar species, foodplant, etc, but also with individual distribution maps with each species.

Hopefully this new guide will encourage more of us to move even further into micro recording. As I’ve said the guide is thought to be due out next month, for around £30. I'm sure it will hugely increase the interest in micros in the county and hopefully make it much easier for recorders to identify them.

Douglas.