Until July 2017, documenting the seasons of coastal Dorset. I'm a complete amateur so don't trust I'm always right. If ever you see I'm wrong - whether with identifications or in anything else - do say! Meanwhile . . . I've now moved to Halifax in West Yorkshire. Click on the link below to collect the new URL. Don't forget to follow there!

IDENTIFYING THINGS

THE SITES BELOW MAY BE HELPFUL

The links below are in the order they have been added to Loose and Leafy so it's easy to see what's new.

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

PLANT LIFE

UK LADYBIRD SURVEY

CIRCUS OF THE SPINELESS

ISPOT

TREEBLOGGING

NATURE BLOG NETWORK

BLOTANICAL

GARDEN SAFARI

BUGS IN THE GARDEN

BRITISH BUGS

UK AND EIRE NATURAL HISTORY BLOGGERS

ALAN SILVERSIDE'S LICHEN PAGES

BRITISH ARACHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY (For a bit of spider browsing.)

IDENTIFY SPIDERS BY THEIR (very small!) PICTURES  (Spiders and Harvestmen Recording Scheme)

BRITISH HOVERFLIES

DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSEL FLIES

BUGLIFE - THE INVERTEBRATE CONSERVATION TRUST

UK BUTTERFLIES

LEARN ABOUT BUTTERFLIES

THE POISON GARDEN

LICHEN VOCABULARY (a page from LICHENS OF NORTH AMERICA)

BIOLIB (BIOLAB)

HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LICHEN, ALGAE AND MOULDS (in Scottish graveyards)

GARDEN SNAILS - A GALLERY ON BUG BLOG

KEY TO THE SNAILS OF THE BRISTOL REGION

HOW TO IDENTIFY TERRESTRIAL GASTROPODS (USA)

BEGINNERS GUIDE TO SOME OF THE COMMON TYPES OF FUNGI - (part of the AMANITA PHOTO LIBRBARY)

VISUAL FUNGI

EARTHFAST IMAGES (Roger Butterfield's Fungi Photos)

ROYAL FORESTRY SOCIETY - lots of information about trees

WOODLAND TRUST

GRASSLANDS TRUST

ROGER BUTTERFIELD'S FUNGI PHOTOS

BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION (INCLUDING MOTHS!) - NEWS, INFO. AND IDs

MOTHS 2014 - BSG ECOLOLOGY

NATURE GATE

WILD FLOWER FINDER

MUSHROOM COLLECTING IN NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN CANADA

MUSHROOM PICKERS ON YANDEX

PLANT CRIB ON DANDELIONS

THE DANDELIONS OF CARDIFF

ID-ing BEES, WASPS AND ANTS - Bees, Wasps Ants Recording Society

APHOTOFUNGI - The fungi of South West England, especially Devon and Cornwall.

BOMENGIDS (Dutch Tree Guide)

BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION, SUSSEX BRANCH

BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION - DORSET BRANCH

IDENTIFY YOUR BLUEBELLS

BUG GUIDE

ESTIMATING THE AGE OF A VETERAN TREE BY ITS GIRTH - (By Wokingham District Veteran Tree Association)

RECORD POOL - RECORDING REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS IN UK

BIOBLITZ - RECORDING GARDEN WILDLIFE

AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILE CONSERVATION - INCLUDING DOWNLOADABLE ID GUIDE

DRAGONS IN YOUR GARDEN - How to encourage reptiles and amphibians. (Downloadable.) (Also from the ARCT.)

AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILE GROUPS OF THE UK

BUMBLEBEE CONSERVATION TRUST - ID PAGE
HOME PAGE -  BUMBLEBEE CONSERVATION TRUST

EDIBLE WILD FOOD - (I don't know enough to say how accurate the info. on this site is regarding what is edible and what is not - but it has clear pictures and descriptions.)

BRITISH BUTTERFLIES

SEDUMS (Rebecca's Bird Gardens)

NATURE SPOT

BRITISH BUGS (Shield Bugs and Co.)

THE LIFE CYCLE OF BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS

PARACITISING WASPS IN THE UK Ed Philips' Wildlife Photos Blog. Where there's uncertainty it's indicated.

DRAGONFLY IMAGES (CHRIS BROOKS PHOTOGRAPHY)

SPIDERS IN THE NETHERLANDS -  downloadable PDF - from Zoekkaarten Natuur van Nederland

GUIDES AND INFORMATION ON THE DAVE'S GARDEN SITE -Plants, insects, gardens, birds . . .

USEFUL LIST OF BOTANICAL LATIN DESCRIPTIONS on The Seed Site

FLORA OF THE NETHERLANDS - Video ID guides with English Voice-overs

SHELL GUIDE ( from NBN - National BioDiversity Network)

A GUIDE TO TREE IDENTIFICATION - on Woodlands.co.uk  - a site where you can buy woodland!

NATURE GUIDE UK

iNATURALIST

BIRD LIBRARY - An illustrated list of some common British birds. (Page on Vine House Farm site selling seed etc. for wild birds.)

AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES - Pictorial guide to UK amphibians and reptiles. On the Froglife site.

ALL ABOUT HOVERFLIES - Including diagram of body parts. This is on the Microscopy site - which includes a 'POND LIFE IDENTIFICATION KIT'.

WHAT IS THAT INSECT? - On site of the Royal Entomological Society

MIRODON EQUESTRIS (NARCISSUS BULB FLY)  - On Pacific Bulb Society site.

BUG GUIDE.NET - Iowa State University Department of Entymology

NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY - DRAGISA SAVIC (Serbia) - Large collection of clear photographs with IDs - flora, fauna, fungi of the kind you may not find elsewhere. A good place for rusts and lichens. Take time for an eye-opening browse.

IAN BEAVIS ON FLICKR - Photo Gallery with IDs of insects, amphibians etc. . .

SLUG IDENTIFICATION GUIDE (PHOTO GALLERY)

SLUGWATCH

GALL GALLERY - On the site BRITISH NATURE - AN INCOMPLETE GUIDE TO THE WILDLIFE OF BRITAIN (Wonderfully straightforward name and description!)

INSECTS - The Microsculpture of Levon Biss.

UK Moths

U.S. WILDFLOWER JOURNAL - A plant a day.
And WILDFLOWERS OF THE UNITED STATES - Massive index with photos.

PLANT AND FUNGI SPECIES - an alphabetical list on the Plantlife Site


FIRST NATURE - Trees, fish, flowers, fungi etc.

Downloadable field guides - WOODLAND PESTS AND DISEASES - On OBSERVATREE site - monitoring tree health.

WORMS
IDENTIFYING EARTHWORMS - On Wormwatch
GLOSSARY - On Wormwatch
EARTHWORM RECORDERS HANDBOOK (DOWNLOAD) - FROM THE EARTHWORM SOCIETY OF BRITAIN
DOWNLOADABLE GLOSSARY - Can't work out the source for this. Perhaps site has expired but download still available?

IDENTIFYING HAIRY CATERPILLARS - On Wildlife Insight site.
COMMON CATERPILLARS: A SIMPLE GUIDE - On Country Life site. There aren't many caterpillars in the list but the nice thing is that the photographs show caterpillars butterflies or moths they will become, side by side.

FEATHERBASE - the feathers of lots of birds all neatly laid out.

HONEYDEW on Wickipedia

ABOUT THE COMMON SYCAMORE APHID - 'Identification of Aphids' section of the 'Influential Points' site.
IDENTIFICATION OF APHIDS - on the same site

WEEVILS - Mark Gurney's Album on flickr (Beautiful to browse even when you don't have a weevil to ID!)

DUNG BEETLES UK MAPPING PROJECT - See the side column on the home page for 'Find, Identify and Record Dung Beetles.