I have a nasty feeling

[dongle]

Hello

This is my first message on this site.

I have a very popular and well reviewed flower book with a key and all the help which I might want to recognise a flowering plant in the UK - but - I have a nasty feeling it is not telling me the full story. I know there are a lot more dandelion type flowers which I might find which don't appear in this book and what about all those hedge parsleys. OK I am happy with the book which will cover most things I need and or point me in the correct direction but what happens next. Can anyone suggest the next book, or is it books, to help me.

Meanwhile I might have to sprinkle the message board with questions.

What is the flower attached - much smaller flower and/or plant than a normal buttercup and about 2" high at the most.Found on the way up to Helvellyn in Cumbria. There were lots around so I know its not rare.

Don

[Bushcraft]

Originally Posted by dongle

Hello

This is my first message on this site.

I have a very popular and well reviewed flower book with a key and all the help which I might want to recognise a flowering plant in the UK - but - I have a nasty feeling it is not telling me the full story. I know there are a lot more dandelion type flowers which I might find which don't appear in this book and what about all those hedge parsleys. OK I am happy with the book which will cover most things I need and or point me in the correct direction but what happens next. Can anyone suggest the next book, or is it books, to help me.

Meanwhile I might have to sprinkle the message board with questions.

What is the flower attached - much smaller flower and/or plant than a normal buttercup and about 2" high at the most.Found on the way up to Helvellyn in Cumbria. There were lots around so I know its not rare.

Don

Hi Don,

Welcome to the forum. I can't quite see the leaves in the photo, it looks like tormentil though. You can never have enough books they will all have some variation. Your best bet is a large collection from second hand shops. I have 1000's of books and I don't shell out much for them either. Somtimes they are as new but cost only £1 instead of £19.99 RRP.

Best wishes
Kris

[dongle]

Thanks for your very quick reply - I will start looking

[Bushcraft]

Your very welcome

[John]

I'm not sure if Tomantil is the correct flower but here is a link to that flower. make your mind up but the leaves look different to me but I know nothing about plants. My missus is usually good at them but she isn't sure about this one.

http://www.first-nature.com/flowers/...lla_erecta.htm

John

[Boddie]

Originally Posted by Bushcraft

Hi Don,

Welcome to the forum. I can't quite see the leaves in the photo, it looks like tormentil though. You can never have enough books they will all have some variation. Your best bet is a large collection from second hand shops. I have 1000's of books and I don't shell out much for them either. Somtimes they are as new but cost only £1 instead of £19.99 RRP.

Best wishes
Kris

The Works is a good little shop for cheap guide books. I would recommend always going in for a quick deckers just to check. Sometimes there is nothing, and sometimes there are some real bargains.

[Imaginos]

Trouble is, with Wildlife books you get what you pay for. The cheapo ones are fine as long as you realise you are only going to get half the story, particularly when it comes to insects where you really need specialist books to get correct identification. As far as British wildflowers go then Francis Rose: The Wildflower Key will get you started, if you want to go further then Stace: The New Flora of the British Isles is probably your best bet, at £40 it's relatively expensive but it will tell you all you need to know.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Imaginos

As far as British wildflowers go then Francis Rose: The Wildflower Key will get you started, if you want to go further then Stace: The New Flora of the British Isles is probably your best bet, at £40 it's relatively expensive but it will tell you all you need to know.

The Francis Rose book is brilliant I'd recommend that for moving to the next level. But yes also I agree with other in that you can never have too many guides! Especially in teaching yourself It's nice to have a range of books to double check - second hand book shops and jumblesales are good for this.

Stace really I think is for when you've got to grips with the keys in Rose. And actually instead of I'd get the interactive flora of the british Isles (and actually I am!) as this is £30 and contains the whole of the 2nd edition of Stace, loads of photographs, (8500 colour slides) hyperlinks for tricky words to explain what they mean, distribution data from the New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora.


Also It's probably worth saying that although you might be able to see lots of a plant in a small area it doesn't automatically mean it's not rare, you might be in one of the hotspots in the country for a species. National distribution can be very uneven I remember being suprised by the RSPB warden in Suffolk pointing out a hartsongue fern to me, as this is really pretty common around me, but it was the only specimen on the whole reserve for him

[Tinkerbell]

Once again, I'll put in my recommendation for charity shops and second hand bookshops for good reference material. I've picked up several wildlife books this way and of course the charity benefits too.

Tink

[Alan]

The Birdfair's fantastic for new and second hand books. The first time I went there about six years ago, I couldn't believe it. I ended up spending about 150 notes though It's good there but they aren't cheap!

I agree with Boddie, The Works is good, and you can pick-up some quite specialist books sometimes, but you have to be lucky, or quick to catch them.

These days it's either Amazon or eBay for me. But you can get good bargains at other sites.