Tuesday 15 July 2008

Who's a clever boy, then?

Any self-publisher or blogger risks being thought of as a bit full of themselves. So let me answer the question in this entry's title right away: not me. I not only failed physics-with-chemistry O level but, according to one of my frustrated teachers, came in the bottom one percent in the country. Biology didn't even figure. No, the knowledge here comes largely from this wonderful book, which my wife gave me as a follow-up birthday present to the moth trap. It's published by British Wildlife Publishing and shows pretty well all Britain's moths in their usual resting positions (as opposed to older books which tend to show them 'set' - with their wings stiffly out in the manner of museum collections). It's still fiendishly difficult to identify quite a lot of them but Richard Lewington's paintings are astonishingly accurate. If you know a moth enthusiast, this is the gift to light up their eyes.

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