This introductory book explains bee biology and diversity complemented with beautiful drawings and photographs. It forms an essential companion to a field guide, an accessible and affordable alternative to a technical handbook.

The text is presented as themed double-page spreads covering all the major topics such as diversity, taxonomy, anatomy, behaviour, pollination, evolution and adaptation and the responses of bees to climate change. Bees that you may find in your garden, allotment or park are identified and the book is complemented with notes, references and reading recommendations if required. Hairy-foot, Long-tongue has been designed to provide up-to-date research on the bees that are not honey- or bumble-, but represent the largest part of our bee fauna, in a beautifully illustrated, easily digested form that is a pleasure to look through as well as being informative.

One of our favourite solitary bees is the Hairy-footed flower bee Anthophora plumipes. One may ask “Why is the foot hairy?” and “Why is the tongue long?” This book answers these questions and many others and leads to the complexities of solitary bee lives and their evolution. The book has over 300 photographs and over 150 drawings (in colour and pencil): the majority of the photographs, and all of the drawings, are by the author.

Whether readers are interested ‘Springwatch-watchers' or are intrigued after seeing all the press coverage of the problems bees are having in our current environment; or as a beekeeper or member of a citizen-science programme monitoring bee populations or a student on an environmental studies course needing an accessible background text on biology and evolution in bees – this is the perfect book.

Author hometown: London