Identifying insects

[jackiex_x]

How do you all seem to know the name of all these insects? Is there an app or website you all use? I know spider, moth, ladybird and other basic ones and that's it.

 

[480sparky38 37]

Reader's Digest North American Wildlife.

 

[MTVision]

There is an iPhone app too.

 

[Forkie]

Some people are just interested in wildlife! Back in my school days we used to go on trips to the woods and find all the insects within a square metre, then name them. We also learnt the names of trees, wild flowers, birds mammals and whatever other wildlife was in the area.

Sadly it's a dying knowledge with the bureaucracy and health and safety involved in school field trips. Kids these days can't tell a mighty Oak from a Sycamore or a Kestrel from a Thrush.

These may help get you started!:

Insects
Birds
Trees

 

[Forkie]

Reader's Digest North American Wildlife.

Not much use in Wales, Sparky!

 

[cgipson1]

How do you all seem to know the name of all these insects? Is there an app or website you all use? I know spider, moth, ladybird and other basic ones and that's it.

Site I use primarlly are :

Welcome to BugGuide.Net! - BugGuide.Net

Insect and Spider Identification - Details on North American Bugs (may not help much since you are in the UK!)

These are specialty sites... spiders and dragonflies...

Spider Identification Guide

OdonataCentral

 

[cgipson1]

Some people are just interested in wildlife! Back in my school days we used to go on trips to the woods and find all the insects within a square metre, then name them. We also learnt the names of trees, wild flowers, birds mammals and whatever other wildlife was in the area.

Sadly it's a dying knowledge with the bureaucracy and health and safety involved in school field trips. Kids these days can't tell a mighty Oak from a Sycamore or a Kestrel from a Thrush.

These may help get you started!:

Insects
Birds
Trees

Forkie.. thanks! Some sites I didn't have! The more the better! I do agree about the educational opportunities that kids miss today... with all of the liability, and "PC" crap that goes on. It is terrible.

 

[subscuck]

They used to teach us some stuff in school.

 

[Overread14 2]

They used to teach us some stuff in school.

Sadly these days you're lucky if they teach the useful stuff past pre-school -- its all SATS tests and stuffs these days

 

[jackiex_x]

There is an iPhone app too.

My sister checked her iphone for an app and couldn't find one, I can't find one on my android either

 

[JG_Coleman]

How do you all seem to know the name of all these insects? Is there an app or website you all use? I know spider, moth, ladybird and other basic ones and that's it.

I know this sounds totally crazy... but they do still make these awesome things called....... "books".

Really though, there are excellent field guides that list anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of species of insects. Another added benefit is that the good field guides also usually provide a key that helps you home in on the specific variety of insect such that you don't need to flip through every page waiting to find a picture that looks like what you've seen.

The one I use is the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects & Spiders (North America Edition). But you can usually even find guides that outline the species found in a specific region, which helps to narrow things down a bit.

It's true that some online databases can list more species of insects than a field guide, however I find that in most circumstances, I check the field guide first. Even if I can't find the EXACT insect I'm trying to look up, I can almost always find something close enough that when I finally resort to the internet, I don't have to mindlessly flip through a hundred pages to find what I'm looking for.

 

[MTVision]

My sister checked her iphone for an app and couldn't find one, I can't find one on my android either

Bugs and insects

Garden bugs

Garden insects

Bugs in the garden

 

[jackiex_x]

My sister checked her iphone for an app and couldn't find one, I can't find one on my android either

Bugs and insects

Garden bugs

Garden insects

Bugs in the garden

Thanks