Björn Dal´s butterflies

This is a translation of a Swedish book, “Fjärilar i naturen. Europas dagfjärilar. Nordeuropa”. The author and illustrator, Björn Dal, originally planned to publish five volumes covering all butterflies of Europe (outside the Soviet Union), Northwest Africa, Madeira and the Canary Islands.

Only two volumes were published, and only one – the first – seems to have been translated to English. It covers the Nordic countries (except the mountain regions), the British Isles and (weirdly) the Baltic states (which were still Soviet republics when the book was published).

The butterflies are divided according to biotope rather than systematically. They are illustrated more or less as they appear in nature, rather than in the classical pinned position. 123 species have been included, belonging to 7 families. Or 8, if you count the milkweed butterflies separately – yes, the Monarch has been included, since it occasionally appears on the British Isles. For those who wonder about the exact definition of “butterfly”, skippers are included, too.

I never bothered to use Dal's books in the field, so I honestly don't know whether they are better or worse than, say, “Butterflies of Europe” by Tom Tolman. Being an old volume, it mentions that terror of all butterfly-watchers, Higgins-Riley, in the reference section!

Personally, I think “Butterflies of Northern Europe” is best taken as a small work of art, since Björn Dal is to butterflies what Lars Jonsson is to birds and Bo Mossberg is to plants.