Habitat Identification

[jonbem]

Hi all
OK so I am now very slowly getting to grips with the latin names of some of the more popular fungi, and of course look up any new to me species, but I am still at the "well known street name" stage for trees, bushes, shrubbery etc. Such as Pine (but there are various pine trees) Oak, Beech, Birch, Sycamore, Fern, grass, nettle, bramble etc
Can anyone recommend a good guide for this kind of ID? Is there a Ladybird book, or an I-Spy?
I believe there is a Collins Gem for some. Is it any good? Or the River Cottage ones?
I know I can hunt other areas of the WAB site (and others) but a handy field guide would be good.
Thanks
Jon

[Ditiola]

If you want to learn to identify everything you are going to be very busy over the next 20 years!

I have a small pocket book called Trees & Bushes in Wood and Hedgerow by Helge Vedel & Johan Lang (1960) a quick search on Amazon has it listed for £1-85 I find it is excellent for a quick identification of trees and bushes.

Peter

[Monkey Orchid]

The Field Studies Council fold-out field guides are good.

They do a 'Tree Name Trail' guide for £3.50 which covers the leaves, twigs, fruits and seeds of the commonest broadleaved and coniferous trees of Britain and Ireland, plus bark characteristics, flowers, common habitats, origin and economic uses of the trees .

They also do a 'Woodland Plants' guide for £2.75 which illustrates 41 species of common woodland plant, arranged by flower colour, and with a full identification key based on leaf characteristics so that plants can be identified when not in flower.

If you want to really get stuck into the subject, there's also the FSC 'Guide to the Identification of Deciduous Broad-leaved Trees and Shrubs in Winter'
which covers '70 species which are common or familiar within Britain's major woodland habitats, including hedgerows and town parks. The identification key mainly uses buds, but also refers to bark, twigs and habitat wherever appropriate or helpful.'

There's also the New Holland photographic pocket ID guide: Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs of Britain and Europe, ISBN 1845374754. It's out of stock direct from the publishers (New Holland) but you can pick copies up second hand on Amazon.co.uk.

I've got the Collins tree identification book and also the Roger Phillips photographic trees guide, but neither of these are really books to carry around in the field - one's too heavy and the other's too big!