Britain's Reptiles and Amphibians: A guide to the reptiles and amphibians of Great Britain, Ireland and the Channel Islands

By Howard Inns and Chris Packham

This detailed guide to the reptiles and amphibians of Britain, Ireland, and the Channel Islands has been produced, with the collaboration of the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust, with the aim of inspiring an increased level of interest in these exciting and fascinating animals. It is designed to help anyone who finds a lizard, snake, turtle, tortoise, terrapin, frog, toad, or newt to identify it with confidence.

• Stunning photography


• An easy-to-use approach to identification


• Superbly illustrated introductory sections on the biology and conservation, taxonomy, lifecycle, and behavior of each species group


• Profiles of the 16 native reptiles and amphibians that breed in Britain, Ireland, and the Channel Islands and the 5 marine turtles that visit Britain's seas


• Profiles of 7 established nonnative species and a summary of 8 more with a history of release/escape


• Distribution maps based on the latest available information


• Hints and tips on where, when, and how to watch reptiles and amphibians

• Language: English
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Release date: Dec 31, 2019
• ISBN: 9780691206813

Book preview

Reviews for Britain's Reptiles and Amphibians

[alaudacorax · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This really is an excellent guide.It contains all the species one is likely to see in the UK, including very local populations of non-natives and all the turtles occasionally found in British waters. It has quite thorough introductions to all the native, terrestrial species, including distributions, environments and tips on how to find them, and behaviours, ecologies and reproduction, and has quite good, but not so detailed, introductions to each of the turtles and non-native species. There are good introductions to the general status and conservation of reptiles and amphibians in the UK, and equally good introductions to how one should go about studying them. It has excellent, clear photographs of each species and of some typical habitats.All in all, I think this just about the ideal first introduction to the subject - clear enough for the enquiring child but perfectly suitable for adults, too.The book itself - a softcover - has a waterproof jacket and it has glossy pages; so it should be proof against the odd few raindrops or stray splashes. The only small criticism I have is that, if you want to stick it in a pocket rather than a daysack or haversack, at eight and a quarter inches by six you need a fairly big pocket.