I am on a Charlotte Mason email list for Aussie & NZ homeschoolers.  Today someone was asking for books for New Zealand nature study.  Here are some of my favourites.

The Life-Size Guide to Insects and Other Land Invertebrates of New Zealand and others in the series by Andrew Crowe have life size photos of many common species.  This makes it easy for you and your children to identify the nature you find in your own backyard!

Philip Crosbie Morrison's books are lovely too.  He was a naturalist and hosted a radio programme back in the 1950s or 60s.  The titles we have are called The Junior Naturalist - Nature Talks to Australian & New Zealand Children, published 1966 and Nature Talks to New Zealanders, published 1962.  The books have chapters on different nature topics, from "The 'humble' bumble-bee" to "The Immaculate seagull."  The books also have lovely illustrations.

We also have some little books by Murdoch Riley, Shrubs & Small Trees, New Zealand Wildlife, and Know your New Zealand Birds.  These have lovely illustrations by artist Peter Scaife, who was a customer of ours when we had a picture framing business in the Wairarapa.  Great little books for learning and identifying common NZ species.

We have also enjoyed The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.  Although it is English, it still has beautiful illustrations of many of our common plants & birds.  We also refer to our copy of Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock often.