Your Wildlife Window on the World Wide Web
More than 2000 illustrated articles and identification guides to > 700 Wildflower pages; > 770 Fungi pages; > 84 British and European Birds; > 50 native British Trees; > 160 butterflies, moths, dragonflies and other aquatic Insects; > 55 Fish species; > All of Britain's Reptiles and Amphibians; > A large selection of Mammals including many Bat species.
Special offers, best-selling books about fungi and wild orchids:
Fascinated by Fungi? Get a head start to the 2019 season...
A revised, enlarged second edition (450 pages in a Hardback binding, containing well over 1000 colour photographs) of Pat O'Reilly's bestselling Fascinated by Fungi covers so much that you won't find in other books. Fully deserving its rave reviews and five-star ratings, this superb book is available online here...
Wild Orchids of Wales - how, when and where to find them
Sue Parker's new 200-page guide covers all species that occur in Wales. There are also maps, directions and access information on 50 of the best wild orchid sites and walks. Anyone who loves wildflowers (especially wild orchids) would be thrilled to receive this acclaimed hardback. Available online here...
Wild Orchids of the Algarve - how, when and where to find them
For residents and visitors alike, Sue Parker's definitive field guide is invaluable, with detailed maps, directions and guidance on the best walks for seeing wild orchids in Portugal's famous Algarve region. Anyone interested in wild orchids will be delighted with this authoritative hardback book. Available online here...
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.
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 on Special Offer 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 650 fascinating fungi species.
Focus on Ascomycetes
The Orange Peel Fungus, Aleuria aurantia, is often seen on disturbed soil beside woodland paths. Look out also for the amazing but diminutive Eyelash Fungus, Scutellinia scutelata.
Ascomycetes are fascinating when viewed with a microscope. Above: 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.
We find plenty of ascomycetous fungi, in the UK and in France and Portugal. Visitors to the Algarve region of southern Portugal have the double advantage of being able to enjoy fungus forays in the wooded uplands and in the coastal grasslands while seeing wildflowers of some kind or another all year round.
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Find out what else is new on the First Nature website...
In our Bookshop you will find superbly illustrated guides to some of the most beautiful wildflowers, birds, mammals, insects and fungi, including beautifully illustrated location-specific guides to Wales, The Burren and The Algarve, all at very affordable prices and just a single £2-95 first class postage charge no matter how many books you order.
Wild Orchids and Fungi are two of our major specialities, but we hope you will also enjoy the rest of the website.
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 latest 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 universes of Pat's hilariously unique new book...
Online Guide to the Nature Reserves of Wales
A comprehensive, illustrated guide with detailed directions, zoomable maps and access advice on each one of Wales's National Nature Reserves plus many Local Nature Reserves, RSPB, Wildlife Trust, Woodland Trust and other Wildlife Reserves in Wales is online here and via www.waleswildlife.com
This resource can also be accessed via the Wild Wales tab on the First Nature website, (www.first-nature.com/waleswildlife)
There is also guidance on which wildlife reserves and other wildlife sites are best for birds, wildflowers, butterflies, bats, fungi and lichens etc; details of what you are likely to find at each nature reserve; and advice on the best times to visit to maximise the opportunities for enjoying your particular wildflower, wildlife and countryside interests.
An Authoritative, Illustrated Guidebook to help you find and enjoy Algarve Wildlife
A 288-page full-colour hardback book Algarve Wildlife - the natural year (2nd edition, 2016), by Clive Viney and Ray Tipper, is now available at our online bookshop...
(This bestselling book can also be obtained on Amazon and via good bookshops in the UK and southern Portugal.)
A remarkable Souvenir Guide to an amazing Wildflower Paradise...
Visiting Southern Portugal? Take our inexpensive illustrated guide to Wildflowers in the Algarve with you. Available from our online bookshop... (Also from Amazon and other online booksellers and bookshops in the UK and Portugal).
> Great sites for seeing wildflowers in the Algarve...
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.