review
Helpful guide to spot 500 types of garden animals. That is the subtitle of this handy book with the main title ‘Garden animals guide’. The guide lists animal species that occur in your own garden, the home-garden-and-kitchen creepers, which, when you see the illustrations in the book, suddenly look beautiful and special. With this guide in hand you can read the richness of your own garden while sitting on your garden bench. There is a world to discover, close to home.
Writer draws a book full of garden animals
- Garden animals guide
- Birds and hedgehogs
- Garden as a retreat
- Richard Lewington
- Illustrator of insects
- Reptiles and birds
- Finally about the book
Garden animals guide
We all know the ladybug and the hedgehog. But with spiders we often don’t get much further than “spin”, while there are really many different types of it. They are beautifully drawn in the book. After some study of the Garden animals guide next time you can smartly say that spider is a wall quay spider is or a large wolf spider. With this handy guide you can learn to recognize and identify 500 types of garden animals. The detailed illustrations by nature artist Richard Lewington help with this. You get to know the richness of your own garden.
Birds and hedgehogs
If you want a lively garden full of animals, learn how to attract them in the general introduction. The way in which you lay out the garden partly determines whether your garden is regularly or frequently visited by birds and hedgehogs, for example. The book provides generous information about natural gardening. There is a clear description in the book of each animal species, of the most important characteristics of appearance, behavior and where they occur.
Garden as a retreat
The smallest garden can be a haven for different animals, no garden is too small. Those who have a spacious garden can attract animals by building a pond and those who do not have much greenery next door can hang a nesting box. You can invite blue tits by offering a tit box and butterflies by planting certain flowers. The book was written by a Briton from behind British glasses and you will encounter that several times in the descriptions and examples, but the woodlouse is just as common in the Netherlands and Belgium as in England and also the other soil, grass – and tree dwellers you come across on the European mainland.
Garden animals guide
- ISBN: 9789021559568
- Pages: 208
- Size: 216mm x 136mm x 15mm
- Published: 08/25/2015
- Language: Dutch
- Publisher: VBK Media
- Genre: Fauna in general
Richard Lewington
Richard Lewington wrote and illustrated this work. He is a renowned draftsman who has already written several books. He contributed to the popular field guides Nachtvlinders en Libellen van Europa. This ‘Garden Animals Guide’ contains more than 900 drawings and photos and they are all beautiful. In English it is called Lewington’s book Guide to Garden Wildlife. The guide calls it one of the most interesting projects he has done. There is still a lot to learn about the plants and animals that can be found close to home. Our gardens are very important to many species, says Lewington.
Illustrator of insects
Lewington studied at Berkshire College of Art and Design and has been a full-time illustrator for 40 years. He is mainly specialized in insects and other invertebrates. Both his father and grandfather were nature lovers and they gave that to Lewington. Grandpa had a small collection of butterflies and moths and little Richard has often stood for that.
Reptiles and birds
The insects offer him an almost infinite variety of shapes, colors and structures to draw, more than you can do in a lifetime. He occasionally also paints vertebrates: mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds. His younger brother Ian Lewington is more specialized in vertebrates. The bird illustrations in the ‘Garden Animals Guide’ are his.
Finally about the book
The ‘Garden Animals Guide’ is a beautifully sized book with a smooth and sturdy, but flexible cover. It holds beautifully in the hand and is a great expense to use in the garden. Sturdy, but not very fragile. The illustrations are all beautiful, just like the photos, and the text provides information about the specifics of the animals. You have to read over the references to England, but then you will be left with a book that has a lot to learn from and that stimulates even more fun in gardening and browsing around in what lives in your own garden. Recommended.
