All in all, a very useful and informative guide, and a significant addition to books on Britain's spiders. Those will a real interest in spiders will take the trouble to learn and pronounce the scientific names of species.

Helen Smith is a conservation biologist who leads the conservation programme for the UK’s endangered Fen Raft Spider. An essential companion to Roberts if you wish to pursue a serious interest in the identification of British spiders.However, it is worth tracking down this 1989, hardback printing because the colour reproduction is better. A CD version comprising all three volumes is published by Pisces CD books and is available from NHBS (see Section 9. As with its sister volume on harvestmen, this provides information on structure and biology of the British pseudoscorpions as well as keys and distribution maps. Most purchases from business sellers are protected by the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013 which give you the right to cancel the purchase within 14 days after the day you receive the item.

Although I don't plan on having to identify any British spiders, the introductory material on spider families, etc. This is the UK's heaviest spider and they prefer a habitat of gardens, wooded areas, marshes or long grassland. For beginners or indeed anyone who does not already own a copy of this guide it is a must have volume that provides a comprehensive and easy to use introduction to this fascinating group. Found all over the UK and Europe, as well as North America, the European Garden Spider has many names, including diadem spider, orangie, cross spider, crowned orb weaver and the pumpkin spider.They are often spotted close to ground level on garden plants, in long grass or around plant pots outside.

Hearst UK is the trading name of the National Magazine Company Ltd, 30 Panton Street, Leicester Square, London, SW1Y 4AJ. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. One of the largest spiders in the UK is the Cardinal Spider or the Tegenaria Parietina— which can grow up to 14cm in size.The authors, photographers and publisher are to be congratulated on producing a high quality guide to the UK’s spider fauna which will be as useful to the experienced arachnologist as it is for the beginner. Individual accounts cover 404 species – all of Britain's "macro" spiders and the larger money spiders, with the limitations to field identification clearly explained. Whether it's in the corner of our living room, in the bath or hanging quietly from the ceiling, these are the most common UK spiders you're likely to spot. Only a relatively few Linyphiidae or money spiders species (around 40) with a distinctive abdominal pattern, some of which can be recognised using a hand lens, are included. This is a guide that will revolutionise the study of British spiders, allowing confident field identification of many species and encouraging a new cohort of natural historians to take a closer look at these extraordinary creatures.

They are very rare but, on occasion, can be found in woodland from May to September and are most common in South England and Ireland. Excellent photos are combined with equally valuable text describing features useful for identification which can be seen in the living spider (many of these features actually become less easy to see when spiders are preserved in alcohol).This book will encourage interest in and recording or studying of spiders, let alone help students, photographers, general naturalists and those involved with ecological surveys. In the past the difficulty in naming all but a few distinctive species have turned many people away from the subject [. A comprehensively updated edition of an identification guide that was named a Guardian Best Nature Book of the Year.