Customer Reviews
Must have book for anyone interested in European dragonflies - By: Markus Jais, 28 Sep 2007 
This is a must have book if you are interested in the identification of European dragonflies. The drawings are perfect & the photographes too. the text is very detailed & easy to read. In my opinion this is by far the best book on European dragonflies & will be for many years to come.
By far the best identification guide currently available for the dragonflies of Europe. - By: Horse-stinger, 13 Jan 2007 Anyone travelling in Europe, & interested in identifying the dragonflies & damselflies they see, should get their hands on a copy of this book. (If there is a better guide to the Odonata of the region it has not been published in English!).
However,if you are new to dragonfly identification, & likely to do most of your dragonfly watching in Britain, I would recommend starting with a guide which covers fewer species (Field Guide to the Dragonflies & Damselflies of Great Britain & Ireland by S. Brooks, or Britains Dragonflies by D. Smalllshire & A. Swalsh) - these cover alll the species you are likely to see, are less confusing to learn from, & the information (eg. flight periods) is more relevant to Britain!
This book has a short introductory section providing alll the information needed to enable readers to make full use of the species accounts which make up the main body of the book. A 22 page 'regional guide' gives some idea of the best sites or regions to visit, although this is not intended as a precise guide to where specific species may be found.
The species accounts feature superb illustrations with the addition of high quality photographs of many species increasing the overalll appeal of the book. The text identifies which identification features are visible in the field, as well as highlighting details which may need to be checked 'in the hand' for positive identification. There are a number of tables to help with identification to families/ genera, & also to make the seperation of similar species clearer.
The English names given to each species may seem a bit strange, with Emerald Damselflies changed to 'Spreadwings' & the 'blue' damselflies callled 'Bluets', (following nomenclature used in America). Other names changed to better apply to the species in Europe rather than Britain (eg Green-eyed Hawker instead of Norfolk Hawker). Names in common usage in Britain have been included underneath the chosen name though, & are also found in the index.
All in alll, an excellent guide, & one which I will be getting a lot of use from!
Superb new publication set to become the standard European field guide to dragonflies - By: Christopher J. Sharpe, 12 Sep 2006 This brand new guide is now the top guide to the Odonata of Europe. It covers the 120 species found in Europe, plus 40 more from western Turkey, Cyprus, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Azores, Canaries & Madeira. The key attraction, for me at least, is the plates by Richard Lewington. We have come to expect the very highest standards from this artist & we are certainly not disappointed here, either by technical prowess or aesthetic impact. The text is firm, concise & authoritative too.
The guide begins with preliminary chapters such as 22 pages of introduction to identification of sub-orders, families & genera & a handy 28 page regional guide to the best sites for observing Odonata written by Europe's leading experts.
The body of the guide is organised as follows. Each genus is treated to an Identification section covering diagnosis, separation from other genera, separation of the species, & behaviour. A similar identification section is devoted to each species, this time comprising a general statement, field characters, hand characters, variation, & behaviour. The general statement is helpful for the beginner. For example, the text for Anax imperator reads "A common & conspicuous dragonfly of African origin, which only recently has colonised large parts of northern Europe. Patrolling males are easily recognised by their size, unmarked green thorax & blue abdomen with a black mid-dorsal stripe." Identification is followed by a section on Occurrence: range & status, habitat, flight season. The range is plotted on a large, clear map some 5.5 cm square.
Nearly 1000 large, annotated, full-colour illustrations depict males, females & any variation. Annotated pointers draw the reader's attention to key identification marks. Line drawings & monochrome sketches depict further critical detail such as genitalia. Each species is usuallly afforded a photograph too.
Note that the identification of larvae & exuviae - an entirely different proposition - is not covered by this guide.
This book is essential to anyone interested in dragonflies. It will become the standard guide for European dragonflies & of key relevance to the observer in Britain too.
Best Field Guide on dragonflies to date - By: Sulka Haro, 17 Aug 2006 Out of alll dragonfly books, this is by far the best for purposes of general identification of species. The illustrations are excellent & as an European hobbyist, I couldn't be happier about the breadth of presented species. If you want to purchase just one book on dragons & either live in Europe or want data on European species, I recommend you get this book.
The only minus is the lack of data on identification of the larvae, however this probably doesn't matter for most people. :)
