Field Guide to the Bumblebees of Great Britain and Ireland: New Revised Edition

Well written by experts and enthusiasts, but clear and easy to read.Would be a good addition to a junior school library.

I'm only a beginner when it comes to bumblebees. I'm confident though that this book, which combines a quick id chart with colour photographs of both sexes of all 25 species I'll be able to identify them. It also mentions the flowers or flower families a particular species would visit and gives simple advice as to how to attract them to your garden. Looking forward to February already!

As an identification guide this book is very handy. I quickly learned to read those colourful bar codes, and have identified four different species of bumblebee in our street already. I understand that in some cases there are several possibilities. These ambiguous cases, the authors assure me, can easily be distinguished by a closer look at the genitalia. But maybe I'll just live with the uncertainty. Also intrigued to learn about the bumblebees' life cycle, and about their evil twins, the parasitic cuckoo bumblebees.

Bumblebees are not the easiest insects to identify; but Mr Edwards Field Guide is a great help. It starts with a good introduction to bumblebees and a guide as to how to go about identification. Small enough to fit in a pocket and carry around; but with photographs of both male and female of every British bumblebee and clear descriptions of each bee, where they are to be found and at what time of year.

I gave this book 5 stars because it is exactly what it said it would be. An excellent guide to Bumblebees for either the beginner or the expert with great photographs and an easy markings guide. It's also a good size so you can take it into the field in your back pocket.Excellent value for money particularly when purchased from AmazonI was recommended it by a Bumblebee expert and I would now pass on my recommendation also.

As a beginner to the world of bumblebee watching, this book is excellent.The species and information on each is laid out professionally and with thought tothose of us with limited knowledge on these bees.The 'Spotters Guide' section is invaluableand makes life a lot easier in attempting to identify a Bumblebee, whether Queen, Female or Worker.Well worth buying just for the read.

I was really excited to have this book arrive I am eager to learning about Bumblebees. I have some little knowledge and so I wanted to expand on this. This book was recommended to me but I found myself a little disappointed.As a beginner and, this book being recommended for beginners I was expecting something easier to follow.98% of this book is written referring to the Latin names. As described on page 11, I understand the importance of this however for a dyslexic beginner I found myself having to Google the names of each to find out which species is which.As explained on page 10 this book is described as ‘intended as an introductory work and, with practice, you will be able to identify with confidence…’ Well I would if I had the translation on each species info pages starting from page 44. How can you teach a new language word without the translation. So I have to look up each name.This makes it difficult in the field. To combat this I now have to write in the book each species translation. Don’t get me wrong I want to learn the Latin names but I would learn more efficiently if the translation was there.Another thing that makes it difficult in the field is if you require readers glasses then you may find it difficult to read the very small print. Personally I have enough to carry around my neck, lens, camera and now my readers glasses! So this field guide as informative as it is I found was not designed for a quick flick reference and easy to handle in the field. For a beginner that is. To be honest I printed out each species ID on A4 pages and found these more useful as a quick reference when outdoors. I understand the smaller book size would influence the size of text but additional pages could have counter act this.However the quick flip bee markings ID guide on the inside front and back page are a useful tool.Page 38 ‘Lowland Heaths’ I am assuming is the green and purple box.This book is jammed packed with amazing information and a great way to learn about Bumblebees. If a beginner like myself you may need another reference to the translations from Latin. As a field guide is is a good size but the text sizing suffers for it. Great depth of information and it is written in easy reading form (being a challenged reader this was a relief).Thank you Mike Edwards and Martin Jenner for a lovely book informative book.

If you are interested in Bumble Bees then this guide is well worth purchasing. There is a very handy colour key at the beginning which sets out the bees banding so you can quickly get to the right or similar species. There are good photographs and very useful narratives. Worth every penny, an essential guide.

Super Buch für alle, die sich mit Hummeln beschäftigen. Gute Übersicht der verschiedenen Arten in England und Irland, Verbreitungskarten und viele gute Fotos.

... comme centre d'intérêt, ce livre est pour vous. L'identification se fait à partir d'un tableau combinant couleurs de l'abdomen et du thorax, distingue mâle et femelle et indique quelques critères clés. D'autres critères utiles à l'ID sont précisés dans les doubles pages qui présentent chaque espèce. Intéressera les naturalistes de la moitié nord du pays puisque ce guide couvre la GB et l'Irlande.