Many of the spring flowers on the coast of the far south of Cornwall are yellow (Lesser Celandine), white (Sea Campion and Three-cornered Garlic) or blue (Spring Squill) at the moment so this shocking pink flower really stood out on … Read More
This ladybird settled high on my arm as I was standing in the National Trust car park at Lizard Point. This made photography even harder than usual especially as we were actually looking for a Hoopoe and the camera had … Read More
There were a few female Tawny Mining-bees visiting the flowering Winter Heath in the garden at the weekend. They were not as numerous as the Ashy Mining-bee. Insight into Tawny Mining-bee (Andrena fulva): a solitary bee that flies in springtime … Read More
The Common Lizard, also known as the Viviparous Lizard, is the only lizard likely to be seen in Cornwall although there are attempts being made to introduce the Sand Lizard (Lacerta agilis) to the county. This one was sunning itself … Read More
There is something very cheering standing next to a hedgerow full of chirping House Sparrows. If that hedge is also overhung by blooming camellias lit up by bright spring sunshine then even these, often considered dull birds, can appear quite … Read More
The identification of the two most commonly seen British oil beetles is something we’ve been trying to get to terms with in recent days as part of Bug Life’s oil beetle survey, just as we did last year – see … Read More
Northern Wheatear have been arriving in increasing numbers in recent days and this was one of three seen on the clifftops at Lizard Point. This bird did not have the very smart adult spring plummage expected of early arriving males … Read More
The most common wasp found in our garden is the Common Wasp. So that’s well named then! Insight into Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris): can be identified by a combination of features. There is usually a black anchor like black mark … Read More
Three Unarmed Stick-insects found in the garden at the weekend were our first records of the year in our garden in Falmouth. They were all about 30mm in length with one found on a Carnation and the other two on … Read More
There are lots of different bees feeding on the Winter Heath in the garden at the moment. The most numerous is the Ashy Mining-bee which is a very distinctive black bee with ashy grey hairs. Insight into Ashy Mining-bee (Andrena … Read More
The recent good weather has brought out many insect species in the garden. The commonest shieldbug we see is the Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina) and several were sunning themselves on a variety of different shrubs. Some had already turned into … Read More
This Angle Shades moth spent a whole day sitting on a heather in the garden. It didn’t appear to be feeding and for a moth so cryptically well designed to blend into twig and leafy surroundings it seemed strange that … Read More