Your Wildlife Window on the World Wide Web
Over 2200 illustrated identification guides to > 720 Wildflower pages; > 820 Fungi pages; > 86 British and European Birds; > 50 native British Trees; > 200 butterflies, moths, mayflies, hoverflies, dragonflies and other Insects; > 55 Fish species; > Britain's native Reptiles and Amphibians; > A large selection of Mammals including many Bats.
Summer surprises:
These primitive non-flowering plants are well prepared for wet weather... in a small way, at least!
Liverworts (together with ferns and mosses) are primitive non-flowering plants, and the recent warm moist weather is just what they have been waiting for. Look out for Umbrella Liverwort, Marchantia polymorpha, on damp and shaded concrete or tarmac paths.
With well over 1000 colour photographs, Pat O'Reilly's new edition of Fascinated by Fungi covers so much that you won't find in any other fungi books. Fully deserving its rave reviews and five-star ratings. Available online here...
This rare fungus, known as Liverwort Navel, seems to get on well with Umbrella Liverwort.
The Liverwort Navel Loreleia marchantiae is invariably found with Umbrella Liverwort, and it seems likely that these two species are symbiotic - supporting one another by the interchange of chemical nutrients. They inhabit damp shaded sites such as stream banks.
There are detailed maps, directions and advice on the best wild orchid walks in Portugal's famous Algarve region. Anyone interested in orchids will be delighted with this authoritative hardback book. Available online here...
Wild Orchids of Wales - plus a Free guide to mountain, moors and meadow wildflowers
From April to August, wild orchids bloom in Wales. Which ones are where and when? Sue Parker's 200-page hardback Wild Orchids of Wales - how, when and where to find them has all the answers. More details...
There are maps, directions and access information for 50 top orchid sites and walks. Anyone who loves wildflowers (especially wild orchids) would be thrilled to receive this acclaimed hardback. Available online here...
Algarve Wildlife, the natural year - the latest hardback edition of this bestselling gem
Birds, mammals, fungi, wildflowers, top sites, walks and more. This is a fully revised and enlarged hardback new edition, builds on the acclaimed bestselling first edition of Algarve Wildlife, the natural year. More details...
The 288-page full-colour guide to wildlife, flowers and fungi species found throughout the year is arranged in fortnightly sections, with a map and detailed descriptions of the Algarve's finest nature sites. Available online here...
Spore Prints - where Science and Art collide (and collude)
When you want to know exactly which kind of mushoom, toadstool or other kind of fungus you have found, visual appearance (macroscopic characters, to use the technical term) are often not enough to provide species-level identification. Then you need to do some scientific detective work. Finding out the colour of the spores is the first crucial step in in the process, and for this you need to make a spore print. It's easy! Just follow our simple online guide to making spore prints...
Oh, and by the way: spore prints can be very attractive artwork, too.
If you enjoy looking for fungi and are keen to learn more, you will enjoy Pat O'Reilly's 450-page Fascinated by Fungi. This five-star rated hardback book, with more than 1000 colour photographs of fungi, is bang up to date and contains a wealth of information that you won't find in other books on the subject. Author-signed copies are available at a special discount price in our online bookshop...
Microscopy for Amateur Mycologists
It's amazing how much more you can learn about fungi if you have access to a microscope. Our no-jargon Online Guide to Mushroom Microscopy has all the essential information about choosing and using a compound microscope, selecting chemical stains, preparing slides etc to help you get started.
There are also examples of the microscopic 'characters' cited in identification keys. More details...
Focus on Ascomycetes
Ascomycetes are fascinating, especially when viewed with a microscope. Here the spores of the Eyelash Fungus Scutellaria scutellata can be seen packed in sets of eight into the asci tubes. The same image in higher magnification can be seen on our Eyelash Fungus page.
Pat O'Reilly's new edition of the bestselling book Fascinated by Fungi contains a very useful introduction to fungal microscopy.
This best-selling book means a great deal to flyfishers
A new, fully revised and updated edition of Matching the Hatch is now available. Since its publication in 1997, this bestselling book has helped tens of thousands of flyfishers to understand the flies and other aquatic creates that trout and grayling feed upon and to select the best artificial flies and use them correctly. Pat O'Reilly's 'Magnificent Seven' for beginners and his 'Deadly Dozen' for more experienced anglers have brought clarity to what in the past was a cause of confusion and frustration. Copies of the bang up to date Pocket Edition are available direct from the publisher...
The battiest of bats - a book for readers and writers
Side-splittingly funny with a plot and outrageously hillarious characters unlike anything you have read before... we promise! Pat O'Reilly's fantasy novel, Frazzle, is now available in paperback or as a Kindle e-book from Amazon (UK and worldwide).
Full details and a free sample of the opening chapters of the book are now on Amazon... Or...
Find out more here about the fantasy parallel worlds of Pat's hilariously unique novel here...
Blue is not a colour normally associated with mushrooms, but there are a few striking blue species. Pictured here is one that makes itself obvious in another way too: the Aniseed Funnel Clitocybe odora can be found by 'following your nose'! See our Sortable Fungi Index for pictures and identification details for more than 770 fascinating fungi species.
Note on terminology
We use the term wildflowers where some people still write wild flowers as two words; however, whether you prefer wildflowers or wild flowers we are sure you will find many flower species of interest in our wildflower pages. Similarly with fungi: some people call all edible fungi mushrooms, using the term toadstools to denote inedible of poisonous fungi. Others reserve the term mushroom for Agaricus species such as field mushrooms. We use the term mushroom to describe any cap-and-stem fungi, whereas brackets, crusts, puffballs and other non-mushroom-shaped types of fungi are referred to simply as fungi. To many people, wildlife means animals such as birds, mammals and insects. Are wildflowers (or wild flowers) wildlife? They are living things, and part of Nature; we therefore use wildlife to imply all living creatures, whether animals (including mammals, birds, insects, reptiles, amphibians, fishes etc), plants such as wildflowers, trees, mosses and other 'lower plants' as well as fungi, lichens and slime moulds.
Help more people learn about and enjoy nature...
We are always pleased to receive your suggestions, pictures and help...