I recently bought a couple of ‘new’ moth books.
The book on the left British Moths was new to me whilst the one on the right is the re-written 3rd edition of the book I always use to identify moths.
The British Moths book by Manley is a photographic guide to all of the UK’s moths – micros and macros and the second edition was published in 2015. Comprehensive and a series of great photos.
The new 3rd edition of the Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland by Waring, Townsend and Lewington has been completely re-written and now contains maps for all the species (only the 800+ species of macro moths). It also contains 72 plates of of all the species painted in their natural postures by Richard Lewington. It also contains some additional species compared to the 2nd edition as these have now been recorded in the country.
So I generally start off using the Field Guide to identify a species and then confirm the ID using the Manley photographic guide.
If you only get on book it has to be the Waring, Townsend and Lewington Field Guide.
A Dartmoor blog 
Really useful advice – many thanks.
I have the Chris Manley – British Moths – Second edition myself and it is very comprehensive thats for sure.
Can I ask what moth trap you use please as I have a MV trap myself but have not used it yet this year for fear of the rain blowing the bulb.
If yours is an MV trap do you protect it in some way ? Mine has the protecting perspex disk that sits above the bulb but if it rains and is windy too then it won’t afford much protection to the bulb.
Many thanks
John
Look here John
https://adriancolston.wordpress.com/2015/07/05/moth-traps-and-mothing-how-to-start/
I’ve only had one bulb ‘blow’ in rain in 20years. The other option is to get hold of a large glass jar e.g. a commercial branson pickle jar!
Thanks Adrian.
We have the same trap and from the same supplier.
However , I have had two bulbs blow in half a dozen nights of use. In the end having contacted Jon at ALS he kindly replaced the choke unit in case it was faulty but said much the same as you as far as bulb life goes so guess I was just unlucky.
Many thanks again.
John