Collins Tree Guide is a definitive, fully-illustrated guide to the trees of Britain and non-Mediterranean Europe. Species description include details of shape, height, the appearance of leaves, bark, buds and flowers, as well as similar trees and variants. Containing some of the finest original tree illustrations ever produced, each species is described and pictures on the same page for easy reference.
An amazing book with all the trees you would need to identify in the UK! I can’t wait to go out and start identifying trees from the leaves, branches, or rather the whole tree itself! The illustrations are well done so you can clearly see what you need to identify, and the book is simple to look back and forth if needed. I’m exited to use this book. 🌲🍃
Cheating slightly, as I haven't read it cover to cover (although that would be a feat in itself): I have however gone out several times with it over the past two weeks, and gained a much stronger sense of the overall genera of the trees I keep seeing, if not always the exact species. The pictures are great, and there are several helpful tables in the front for use in-field, such as leaf diagrams and stem/bud diagrams. Perfect for beginners, but there's enough detail here for experts too. Had a couple of exciting finds - identified a blue atlas cedar in the Vienna Central Cemetery, while also realising that the enormous, peculiar, pungent seed/fruit that I used to find in Carol Park in Bucharest belong to the osage orange tree, which are a notably rare tree in the British Isles (but incredibly easy to access within Bucharest!) In conclusion, I can safely say tree-spotting is significantly easier than birdwatching; the targets are much larger and noticeably slower.
This books had more accurate and more reliable descriptions about each trees species than other books on this subject. There was also a bigger selection of species described than other books. the only problem was the key at the front of the book was not very clear with weird drawings of leaaves and no desciptions. keying a tree out with this book was not easy and I would reccoment that anybody seriously interested in keying out trees should look for a differnt book to this one as it will only do your head in....
This is the most incredible guide to British Trees that I have found!
I am on a mission to learn about our native trees and have pocket guides and online resources that I am using while out and about, to help me recognise and learn about these magnificent beings, but this book is akin to the Oxford Dictionary for trees…incredibly detailed, with beautiful and accurate illustrations and descriptions.
It is hefty (so not something for taking on a long hike) but for an amble to go and meet trees and try to identify them during all seasons of the year, this is the most brilliant resource!
A very useful identification guide, the desciptions can be used by both amateurs and professionals and the image plates clear and easy to use, I particularly like the leaf guide at the front of the book which provides a quick reference guide when in the field. Although a bulky for field use it is useful to have and makes tree id much easier than some other guides I've looked at.