'A much-needed guide - you can't truly understand a moth or a butterfly without first getting to know the caterpillar.' - Nick Baker This beautifully illustrated field guide covers caterpillars of the moth and butterfly species that are most likely to be encountered in the British Isles. The comprehensive introduction covers how to study caterpillars and provides a window into their diverse natural histories, while the species accounts cover status, field characters, similar species, habitat, foodplant and field notes, and are accompanied with up-to-date distribution maps.

Phil Sterling began his interest in moths before starting school. Today he concentrates on elucidating life histories of lesser known moth species, and on promoting his passion for wildlife to a wide audience through publication of books, papers and public speaking. He holds the degree of MA (Oxon) in Zoology and his DPhil (Oxon) was on the ecology and biological control of the Brown-tail Moth. He is a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, and a member of the British Entomological and Natural History Society and British Ecological Society. He has been in nature conservation research and practice for 35 years and is currently at Butterfly Conservation where works on a UK-wide project to improve habitat for wildlife in the built environment.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Useful resources
At-a-glance guide
Plate section
Checklist of the macro-moths and butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland
Scientific names of plants and their associated butterfly and moth species
Photographic credits
Appendices
Index of English names
Index of scientific names