Field Guide to Trees

FIELD GUIDE TO THE TREES OF BRITAIN AND EUROPE –  published in August 2017 by Reed New HollandPublishers. The Author is Alan Birkett. The ISBN number is 9781921517839. The book is currently out of print  and now no longer available from Amazon Books. The Trees and Flowers website uses images and text extracted from  the print book, to explain how to identify trees. Click HERE to find out more about the Trees and Flowers website.

This field guide includes more than 150 species that are likely to be encountered in Britain and elsewhere in northern and central Europe. It covers native species, such as Hawthorn, Wild Cherry, English Elm and Sessile Oak, together with trees which have been widely introduced from other parts of the world.

The book is based on the Tree Guide UK apps and has a similar set of identification keys at the start of the guide, which cover broadleaf and conifer leaves, buds, cones, catkins, flowers, fruit and bark, and cross-reference with the tree species and families in the main sections of the book.

The guide is suitable for beginners and more knowledgeable readers, and the text has been written in an easy-to-understand style, while there is a detailed glossary at the end of the book to explain any technical terms. Each species account covers a spread and includes a photo of the whole tree, together with close-up detail of other features such as leaves, bark and so on, while the accompanying text describes key characteristics for identification, including a useful ‘Quick ID’ section.

This a practical guide that includes over 1000 photographs taken outdoors throughout the year. It uses photographs of trees as they are, not as they might be under perfect conditions. Seasonal changes are shown and the dates when photographs were taken are given so that you can identify trees at any time of the year.