Sunday, 11 Oct 2026
Two new species added today, an ichneumon wasp and a lauxaniid fly. It was another sunny autumn day with very little wind, which meant lots of insect activity. Particularly noticeable now are the Vespidae wasps, especially Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris) and German Wasp. They can be seen in any tangle of brambles, flying in and […]
Tuesday, 6 Oct 2026
A lovely warm and sunny early afternoon on what is billed as our last day of summer temperatures. There are still a few butterflies about. Today’s count was 4, with 2 each of Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) and Speckled Wood. The Small Copper are in very good condition and may be around for at least […]
Tuesday, 29 Sep 2026
Just like last Friday, there was only one butterfly seen this morning. It was also a Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) – the same one? Also, just like last Friday, despite the warm, sunny weather, there was very little of interest to warrant photos. I did make a few exceptions. I found some Green Shieldbug (Palomena […]
Wednesday, 22 Apr 2026
Not a cloud in the sky but quite windy. Despite the wind a better day for butterflies with dozens of Brimstone on the wing. Surprisingly the next most abundant, I stopped counting at 10, was Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi), along with 5 or 6 Holly Blue, a pair of Speckled Wood and a solitary Painted […]
Saturday, 18 Apr 2026
A warm, sunny day with little wind. Yet still no great numbers of butterflies, and still the usual suspects, Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni), Peacock (Aglais io), Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) and Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus). The Green Longhorn moth (Adela reaumurella) seemed to be out in even bigger numbers today and swarming again too. The Common Spindle (Euonymus […]
Monday, 13 Apr 2026
Perhaps I headed to the Downs a bit too early this morning. A very cold night again and a heavy dew, so not too many insects on the wing as they need to warm up before becoming active. Not too surprising that I only saw two butterflies, both Speckled Wood. Sycamore leaves were the chosen […]
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, 5 Mar 2026
The Brimstone butterflies are back and in much larger numbers this time. A single Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) was also spotted. A surprise was a small flock of Redpoll (Acanthis flammea cabaret), a bird I had not seen on the Downs before today. Best of all was that I did not miss out on a photo as […]
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 […]
Friday, 27 Feb 2026
Another windy day, so another search of the woodland floor for something of interest. In one small area I turned over several large pieces of bark and branches lying in the leaf litter to uncover quite a mix of gastropods and arthropods without an insect among them. Among the gastropods were several Cellar Snail (Oxychilus cellarius), […]
Thursday, 26 Feb 2026
A windy day so I kept mainly within the woodland and continued with my recent tactic of searching under loose bark on rotting trunks and branches. Very obvious on the outer surface of the bark on one rotting Silver Birch bough was the fungus Birch Woodwart (Jackrogersella multiformis). Under bark that had spalled off a […]
Saturday, 10 Jan 2026
Another cold day, but after some persisent rain in the past couple of days all the snow and ice is gone. So, it was back to a search of the woodland for something of interest. Fallen birch trunks and branches proved most profitable, with four photo opportunities. Removing a loose flap of bark on one […]
Thursday, 30 Oct 2025
A very quiet day, not even many flies to be seen. Jays still very active. I concentrated on looking at the undersides of leaves of various tree species. Even that was not particularly rewarding today. On the underside of a Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) leaf I found the larval case of a Coleophora moth, possibly […]
Saturday, 30 Aug 2025
A surprisingly large number of Small Copper still, which is by far the dominant butterfly, with a few Small White and Meadow Brown. New species added were a Sycamore Moth (Acronicta aceris) caterpillar, Diamond-back Marble (Eudemis profundana) moth, Oak Borer (Agrilus angustulus) beetle and Sallow Gall Midge (Iteomyia capreae) galls on Salix sp. leaf. […]
Saturday, 28 Jun 2025
Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus) and Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus) are now the most numerous butterflies. New insects for this year’s Downs list are the flies Common Splay-wing (Phania funesta) and Hornet Mimic Hoverfly (Volucella zonaria), an ichneumon wasp (possibly genus Trychosis, cf. T. legator), a possible Yellow-legged Mining Bee (Andrena flavipes?) and the very photogenic (and […]
Monday, 16 Jun 2025 – London Wetland Centre
Something different today. I spent the morning at the London Wetland Centre. I usually go there for birdwatching, but decided this time to leave the 300 mm lens at home and concentrate instead on insects. I won’t give details of everything I saw, just post a gallery of the insects (and some snails) that you […]