My Wildlife Identification Tips & Suggested Sources
Before starting wildlife photography I had little experience with identifying or differentiating species outside of the basic mammals and some birds. I thought for my first blog post I would write some of my tips as a person from a non ecological or science background for identifying animals, insects and plants and mainly the sources I use. The easiest way to get knowledge in identification is to identify things as you spot or encounter them, this has been my process. It is much easier and helps you to learn as you need to go through the steps, I usually take a picture either on my camera or with my phone and then look them up on my phone, you don’t need many books although I will suggest some I like and have.
For butterflies and moths I use irishbutterflies.com and irishmoths.net or mothsireland.com I love that these websites are irish so I know I am not sifting through pictures of them that are not here. I love that irishbutterflies.com divides them into small, brown, multicoloured and green/yellow so you can narrow your search pretty quickly. With irishmoths.net you can search by month to see what is flying around at the moment and also between the different types of moth (which i need to learn). Mothsireland.com allows you to submit your record and has a large database of photos to look through. It also should be noted that if you have a moth trap you need to submit records of what you find to the national biodiversity data centre as part of your license.
For birds I use primarily the Bird Watch Ireland website, I love that you can search by keyword and filter by habitat, size, season or colour. I also love that they give the Irish name for the bird too as that can also reveal a lot about the birds habitat or folklore (my favourite is the Irish for starling being ‘druid’) They also give information and tips on identifying the bird such as distinct markings or their call. It should be kept in mind that often young birds or females will look very different from the adult male bird who is often more colourful. The Bird Watch Ireland website shows pictures to differentiate between them. I have found when I am struggling to identify a bird it is usually because it is a female of the species and does not look how I think of the species (usually a bit duller or brown). An example of this would be the female blackbird who is more brown.
Some books that I like to look at for birds is the Collins Bird Guide - which every household in Ireland ought to have and is a handy size to keep in the car or to hand. A less handbag friendly book I like is the Birds Britannica which my dad gave me last year when I got into birds, it is less of a field or identification guide but I still do like it and would make a handy gift for anyone into wildlife and birds.
Birds, butterflies and moths make up the majority of what I see day to day besides rabbits who are more easy to identify. In the summer however I see a lot more life on the shoreline or in rockpools , although my rockpooling skills leave much to be desired unfortunately. I use this id guide for jellyfish however I am probably not the most qualified to give advice outside of jellies. A creator I would reccomend is Wildlife Ireland Learning & Discovery she does a lot of rockpooling and finds the most amazing tiny things, although it sometimes makes me a little jealous as I never seem to be able to spot but I think with most wildlife spotting and identification it takes time and patience and persistence. My advice would be to go outside for five minutes every morning for a whole week and have a look around the garden for birds and you will see so many different ones! Following different wildlife photographers and organisations on social media or newsletters is a good idea too!
I know there is a lot of print identification guides and websites that I did not mention, Collins makes quite a lot such as Seashore guides and Irish Wild Flower guides but this is just some personal tips and my experience not an exhaustive list .
Please share in the comments any tips or experiences :) 