Peter Kirby is a freelance ecological consultant specialising in invertebrate conservation. Previously, he worked for the Nature Conservation Council for five years, preparing county reviews of sites of invertebrate interest and national reviews of the rarer Hemiptera and minor insect orders. He has published many papers, particularly on the Hemiptera, a group of insects on which he is an acknowledged expert. He has considerable experience of habitat survey, assessment and management, which has been put to good use during the preparation of this book.