Friday, 10 Apr 2026
A drop in temperature of 10°C overnight, and even though it was yet another bright day with very light winds the butterflies have disappeared again. My total for this morning was just 2, a single Speckled Wood and surprisingly my first Green-veined White (Pieris napi) of the season. I have noted a few aphids starting to […]
Thursday, 9 Apr 2026
Brimstone numbers down today, almost matched by Speckled Wood, these two by far the most dominant of the butterfly species. A bit more variety today, with 5 Peacock, 2 Orange Tip, 1 Comma, and first sightings of the season of just one each of Red Admiral and Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus). Still large numbers of […]
Tuesday, 7 Apr 2026
A beautiful, cloudless sunny day with only a light breeze. Heading for over 20°C and the hottest day of the year so far, and the first day that I have ventured out in short sleeves without a jacket or sweater. These conditions have brought out the butterflies again after 12 days absence, not that there […]
Saturday, 4 Apr 2026
The first day for quite a while that I have not been able to find anything new to report. So, I will have to be satisfied with posting images of species already recorded on the Downs, hopefully better than the first time. I got the day off to a start with a male Tawny Mining […]
Wednesday, 1 Apr 2026
Warmer weather this morning, and only a light breeze, but annoyingly overcast, which would yet again restrict the insects on the wing. Several first sightings of the season today, including Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) on Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens), Curled Rose Sawfly (Allantus cinctus) on Cherry Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) and Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) […]
Saturday, 28 Mar 2026
Much colder this morning. As I set out the temperature was reported as 8°C (feels like 5°C taking the wind chill into account) and with a wind blowing I thought I may not see too many flying insects. That was true for butterflies, not even one. However, the bees more than made up for this […]
Monday, 23 Mar 2026
Just like two days ago butterflies were all but absent today, with my total seen only 2. However, these were 1 Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) and 1 Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines), with the latter being the first butterfly of the season from those species that overwintered in the pupal form. The Orange Tip chrysalis from which […]
Saturday, 21 Mar 2026
Another day of glorious sunshine, but the temperature yet another 1° cooler. While butterflies were all but absent again it was a good day for flies and bees. I had to look no further than the now fully developed catkins of the Goat Willow (Salix caprea). This was where I found the only butterfly of […]
Monday, 9 Mar 2026
Many trees and shrubs are now starting to show leaf buds opening. Most advanced seem to be honeysuckle vines, wild privet shrubs, cherry plum and common hawthorn. The larger trees generally have only a small proportion of their leaf buds ready to leaf. Noticeable, though, is that while established sycamore trees are still only at […]
Tuesday, 3 Mar 2026
Today the Goat Willow (Salix caprea) catkins were attracting the attention of three different bees, Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera), a few Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) queens and a single Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) queen. Another Buff-tailed Bumblebee was seen searching in a grassy area for a nest site to establish a new colony, potentially […]
Monday, 2 Mar 2026
Well spring starts officially at the Spring Equinox, which this year is on 20th March. ‘Meteorological Spring’ started yesterday. This is to make the use of data collected and grouped by calendar months easier to use for year-to-year comparisons. Whichever start date you prefer for spring the weather today and for the next few days […]
Tuesday, 24 Feb 2026
The above average temperature and sunshine of the past two days has brought the first butterfly out of hibernation, a Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni). With early signs of spring a week or so early this year too, Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera), Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) and Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum) were all active on the same […]
Monday, 9 Feb 2026
My 90-minute walk this morning seemed destined to become another ‘fungus day’ until I came across this early-emerging Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) queen. She will forage for nectar (not too many flowers available right now beyond gorse and hazel catkins) to restore energy after her winter hibernation before selecting a site to house the next […]
Wednesday, 22 Oct 2025
Jays, usually quite secretive birds that remain unobtrusive skulking around the canopies of oak trees, are much more prominent now and can be seen flying out in the open. They are busy preparing their winter food cache, predominantly acorns, but will also collect beech mast, hazelnuts and sweet chestnuts. There was another new fly added […]
Saturday, 11 Oct 2025
Still managing to see some new insects. Today it is the Birch Shieldbug (Elasmostethus interstinctus) and it is my first ever sighting of this species. Other insect photos were of yet another variation to the spot pattern on a Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis), a late Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) on a still flowering Musk […]
Wednesday, 1 Oct 2025
It may be autumn but I can still add some new insects to the year list. This morning’s sighting was a soldier fly, the Twin-spot Centurion (Sargus bipunctatus). Other species photographed include the European Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus), which seems to be very abundant right now, and another Parent Bug (Elasmucha grisea), this one on a […]
Tuesday, 23 Sep 2025
The temperature dipping, with the first single digit overnight temperature of the autumn. ZERO butterflies, but… Something much more interesting. I came across a huge Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae) colony, which was found because it straddled a path in one of the clearings making the entrances to the hundreds of nests more visible. A search […]
Sunday, 10 Aug 2025
Although I have seen it before, at Warnham Nature Reserve in West Sussex and on Park Downs only 2 miles from here, this morning I recorded European Hornet (Vespa crabro) on the Downs for the first time. Although I watched it darting round for a few minutes, it did not land anywhere so I was […]
Friday, 8 Aug 2025
Latest insect added to the year list is the Rufous Grasshopper (Gomphocerippus rufus), several of which were seen at different spots on the Downs. This is apparently regarded as a nationally scarce species and is restricted mainly to chalk grasslands in the south-east of England. After staking out a promising patch of Red Bartsia where […]
Wednesday, 6 Aug 2025
Two new insects today, a female Marjoram Wasp-Sawfly (Tenthredo thompsoni) and a Red Bartsia Bee (Melitta tricincta). These bees stay very close to the ground as their sole source of pollen is the Red Bartsia flowers. They also fly much faster than their bigger bumblebee cousins and more directly, so even trying to follow them […]