Are those blue flowers really Bluebells? We were asked this by several holiday makers during a walk along the coast path above Crantock Beach, near Newquay at the weekend. Questioning whether they were Bluebells was understandable given that to most … Read More
Amongst the caterpillar identification enquires received in the last few days was this one from Karen. ‘Are these Brown-tail Moths? Have hundreds in our tree in the garden’ Well, the brown hairs of the larvae in Karen’s photo, shown left, … Read More
Springwatch is back on the BBC and in the first show it had some remarkable footage of the normally very shy and unseen Water Rail nesting. Remarkable in so much as these birds are so rarely observed breeding in the … Read More
The tiny moth Esperia sulphurella can easily be overlooked or dismissed as a tiny brown moth. With a wingspan of as little as 12mm and an overall brownish colouring this is understandable. However, on taking a closer look, or better … Read More
This Magpie Moth caterpillar abseiled down a silk thread as I was planting a Clematis in the garden. Not only is it one of the most distinctive caterpillars of the large Geometridae family of moths but it is also easily … Read More
Several male Emperor Moths were active during the day at Kennack Sands, on the Lizard. They were flying quickly over the tops of heather searching out the nocturnal females hidden in the vegetation. It always sounds a little odd to … Read More
This Cream-spot Tiger moth caterpillar was about to be run over by cars on the busy St Ives to Lands End coastal road. Having stopped the traffic to rescue it from impending disaster I placed it in a pot with … Read More
The rocky summits of Buttermilk and Rosewall Hills near St Ives, Cornwall are not the type of places you’d normally expect to find migrant butterflies! So the two Painted Lady and two Red Admirals seen basking on the huge granite … Read More
This Painted Lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui, is our first migrant butterfly of the year and was seen warming itself up on a sheltered patch of dried grass at Rosemullion Head, near Falmouth. Butterflies have been very scarce so far this … Read More
If ever there was a sign that Spring had at long last arrived it is the sight of nesting migrant birds. We look forward to the arrival of Sand Martins with particular anticipation as they are normally the first of … Read More
Bright sunshine and strong north westerlies provided great sea watching conditions at Trevose head last week. Manx Shearwaters and Auks were plentiful while on land there were migrant Wheatears. And so what was our most noteworthy sighting ? A Common … Read More
As the sun broke through reptiles emerged to warm up beside the south west coast path. We passed two boldly marked male adders, Vipera berusand, and one Common Lizard, Zootoca vivipara, out in the open soaking up the sun. I … Read More