Atlas of Britain and Ireland's Larger Moths - Book Review

This month saw the publication of the long awaited Atlas of Britain and Ireland's Larger Moths. This mighty tome is published by Pisces  The publications is curated by a range of top entomologists and supported by all the local record centres and county recorders, produced by Butterfly Conservation and Moths Ireland.

The atlas contains a detailed account of the recording, analysis and layout of the distribution maps and trends. The results are complex and look at species richness and long-term distribution and abundance trends. These is an extensive section on causes of distribution changes and of conservation measures.

The species accounts cover every major larger moth species, this amounts to 893 species. Each have a colour photo of the moth in question and a graphic of the flight period.
The maps cover all of the UK and Ireland and clearly shows three levels of temporal information, pre-1970s, 1970-1999 and 2000 on wards. This enables the reader to identify distribution and range ranges over the last fifty years.

I have bought this volume to aid in my growing foray into Moth recording. Alongside identification guides it gives a useful perspective on the distribution and rarity of the species I am likely to discover.

The writing style is functional and informative and the layout excellent. The maps are clear and the photographs are exceptional. The paper quality is is strong gloss, bringing clarity to the images and longevity. The book is hard back with solid quality binding.

This is a first rate publication for any nature lover.

Priced at £38.50 it is available from all good book shops.