Plenty of the 'usual suspect' butterflies in the garden today. Saw what almost certainly was a Holly Blue quickly passing through too. No doubt a male looking for freshly emerged females. He'll have to be more patient. Be a few days more yet before the females appear. However, the highlight for me w...

They go into hibernation when still very small, usually in mid-August but in this exceptional year, maybe earlier and that could mean reduced numbers come next summer. They prepare a leaf turning it into a short small dry tube with their jaws and silk. They will stay inside there come rain wind or s...

Busy with lots to do, have not been paying much attention to the garden lately. Even so, in the heat of the past few days my garden has seen a larger number of butterflies passing through or staying for a while. These include a fresh male Brimstone and lost count of the number of Peacocks seen. They...

Graham, Certain species (i.e Our native Swallowtail "brittanicus" which feeds solely on Milk Parsley) will only ever have one primary foodplant and no secondary. Happy Butterflying Kev Hi Kev, not strictly so. Over forty years ago, in Norfolk, found Swallowtail ova on a distant beautiful ...

Needing a couple of drive-on ramps prior to doing an oil-change on one of the family's cars this afternoon, I removed their wood covers where they've been stored against my garage wall to discover a resting fresh example of this rarely seen beautiful moth. Less than thirty seconds later I was ready ...

Not a butterfly but, a very beautiful moth ~ A Scarlet Tiger not far from my garden but about one hundred metres away in our road. Unfortunately squashed possibly knocked down by a passing car. Few days ago whilst driving nearby saw what I thought almost certainly was another colourful day flying mo...

Enjoying all the matches so far. Has to be one of the best Football World Cups since the 1966-70 events for me. Closing images of ITV's coverage of the Germany v. Portugal showed someone holding what looked like Hawk Moth by the wing and moving it to safety away from the action ~ nice touch that man...

Working outside in the warm sunshine this afternoon, delighted to see a Hummingbird Hawk Moth spend a while visiting various flowers in the garden @ 1300 hrs. Wished they reached Gloucestershire more frequently as they do more often on the south coast. Thirty odd years ago, a long since departed rel...

Long time since I visited Haugh Wood. Back in the 1970-80s when I used to commute daily between Gloucester and Hereford. No real need to go there from the Forest of Dean to see this insect, there's one or two places in the Forest where I've seen it sometimes in good numbers. I recently found it has ...

Best to suspend them so that they are hanging in a natural way. If you have some of their original silk attached to their cremasters, ( little hooks at the tail end ) that can be embedded into a small blob of UHU adhesive. If you cannot do that, make sure there are a few twigs which the freshly emer...

Also, most curiously of all, this egg IMG_9341.JPG It was sitting in the middle of a field all alone, not in a nest,faint pale blue, undamaged, fairly warm and not a bird in sight. If anyone has an idea what bird it is I'd love to know. Best Wishes Hoggers Over the years, seen this several times. E...

Found this item whilst visiting the Gloster Birder web site. Not my sighting but, a Clouded Yellow seen deep in the Forest of Dean ( Glos ) on 30th November 2013. http://www.birder.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Clouded%20Yellow%20301113.jpg So, with a few nice days well into December, a Gloucestershire sight...

Thanks, both, for the IDs. The quails seem incredibly vulnerable poking around under people's feet while their eyes are fixed on aerial wonders - and I can't see any justification for including higher vertebrates in zoos like this - but they do seem reasonably contented and there are always young a...

I know where Purple Emperors roost at night because I have observed them settle down and stay put until dark. Well at least seen the males do that several times in the past. In a favourite Sussex Wood, in the late evening before the low sun disappears, I've occasionally seen the odd male Purple Empe...

Always pleased to see your stuff Guy. This one caught my eye:~ http://www.guypadfield.com/papiliorama/demophon4nov2013a.jpg Bred demophon about thirty years ago. Prepona along with their even more fabulous close relatives, the Agrias species, are my all time favourite butterflies. Very large, powerf...

These are news to me. Being ever watchful of things Natural History, have observed one or two shiny black spiders in my garden this year which I've never seen anywhere before. Their appearance suggested "Black Widow" to me and being unusual, took a couple of images of it. Here it is ~ see ...

Back in July-August 1969, on holiday in Cornwall, I saw several SWFs far removed from Woodland Habitats and in narrow country lanes with only high hedges resembling anything like a copse let alone trees. They alighted on bare ground too. So who knows. The year previously whilst watching Adonis Blues...

Until a few summers ago, I had never knowingly seen one of these fine Hoverflies anywhere. Then I spotted one in the garden. Since that first sighting, each summer one or more put in an appearance. This August has seen a few more. They are an impressive creature. Here's a picture of a Hornet Hoverfl...

The Small Coppers in my field are a bit of a puzzle to me. I have seen the females laying on very small, stunted and tatty plants of Sheep's Sorrel. This time of year and well into October, females chose the smaller stunted and tired plants and not the much better Sorrel specimens elsewhere and even...

Always enjoy dipping into this thread. Lots of interesting stuff and superb illustrations.