Sacha wrote:

Which book would members of urg recommend which would not only identify
caterpillars, moths and butterflies but even more importantly, recommend and
identify their food sources?

"The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland", Jeremy Thomas and Richard
Lewington, pub. Dorling Kindersley, ISBN 0-86318-591-6 is excellent for
butterflies, giving pictures of adults, eggs, caterpillars and chrysalis
plus detailed descriptions of life cycles, adult and caterpillar food
plants.

Since there are only ~60 species of butterfly found in the UK, this
wasn't too demanding. On the other hand, there are nearly 900 species of
moth (excluding micro species) found in the UK!

The "Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland", Paul Waring
and Martin Townsend, Illustraded by Richard Lewington, pub. British
Wildlife Publishing, ISBN 0-9531399-2-1 does, I think, an excellent job.
The one failing is that there are relatively few illustration of
caterpillars but there are detailed species descriptions and information
on caterpillar food plants.

Both books are relatively costly £25 to £30 but, I think, excellent
value.
--
Larry Stoter