Small woodland creatures - Lars-Henrik Olsen

This delightful book is one of the first three volumes of Oxford University Press's new Pocket Guide natural history series. The series fills the need for lighter weight guides for those who want to find out about the common organisms they come across during countryside excursions without having the specialist knowledge required to make detailed species identifications. All the books in the series are attractively designed and generously illustrated with plentiful highquality colour line drawings and photographs throughout. The accompanying text is short but informative, with notes on general biology as well as on identification. Small Woodland Creatures covers the commoner 'creepy-crawlies' and their artefacts likely to be encountered on woodland walks - from ants to wormsand from galls to woodworm holes. They are arranged by animal group and also by the place they might be found, whether inside fungi or wrapped in leaves. Sections on significant aspects of the animals' biology - parasitism, camouflage, and so forth - are introduced alongside the groups for which they are relevant. A pleasure to dip into, the book will be an invaluable accompaniment for woodland walks at any time of the year.