Is Strawberry Tree frost-hardy? I'd be tempted to plant it, but we are quite high and exposed here (by the standards of southern England, anyway). A Small Tortoiseshell was enjoying the sun here today, flying strongly before settling to bask on the wall of our neighbour's house. North Somerset is o...

Interesting, CC. Strawberry tree blossom is a good attractant late in the year for those sugar-loving creatures that are finding nectar scarce - but I didn't know it thrived in the UK. My last holly blue of 2011 was working a strawberry tree systematically, inflorescence by inflorescence, on 1st No...

Superb sunny winter day in Gloucestershire this morning. Not a cloud in the sky. My wife alerted me to this welcome visitor :~ http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/MGJohn/Natural%20History/RedAdmiralinGarden11thNovember20121.jpg My large potted Strawberry Tree ( Arbutus unedo ~ which 'er indoors a...

Redwings, Fieldfares, Bramblings and other Bird winter visitors to the UK are here in numbers already. Could be a sign that we're in for a very cold winter. These migrants usually arrive later and in steadier smaller numbers. Sometimes Waxwings are seen locally and hope to see some again if we do ha...

Hi Cotswold Cockney, I would say that the SSS`s preferred method of egg laying is exposed, as your observations of a female SSS laying an egg in the folds of a grass leaf in 1968 on Boxhill is very unusual , and something i have never come across whether in the field or in any book i have read. If ...

Beautiful sunny morning here in Glos. Fine strong flying Red Admiral at 11.30am in my garden. We had a very severe ground frost around a week ago. I'd have guessed that would have killed off most insects in the area but, with those Plume Moths and today's RA, apparently not. Good to see a huge Bumbl...

SWMBO has big plans for changes in our back garden. Made a start dismantling my Greenhouse which for close on forty years I've used as a breeding cage for many thousands of butterflies and moths. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/MGJohn/Natural%20History/PartiallydismantledGreenhouse.jpg They s...

Denbies, 12th August 2012, continued from previous page. So when i arrived at the correct location i found both eggs were still there plus an additional egg had been freshly laid, probably by another female S.S.S. The two eggs i had found originally having turned a light brown in colour. 18.8.2012 ...

It's one of those Moths again... a plume moth. Spotted on my bathroom wall tiles. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/MGJohn/Natural%20History/PlumeMothonBathroomTiles003.jpg Looks like a male. Even this poor Compact camera digital image appears to show claspers. I have lived in this house for ov...

Whilst the Irish Sea may be an almost impassible barrier, most of the Fritillaries are strong flyers. Even the Heath and Glanville. The Pearl and Small Pearl BFs most certainly are. Even fragile butterflies like the Holly Blue and Wood white can cover relatively long distances over a period of a few...

Thanks for posting all those images Guy, really enjoyed seeing them.

As so many insects appear to have large chunks of their wings damaged or missing, i supect predators are far more numerous out there.

That silk trail laid by the pre-hibernation larva each time it moves to feed will usually secure that leaf to the twig. Come winter frosts and the larva moves to a hibernation site, most of the leaves on the sallow will fall and the silk will hold the leaf in place until strong winter gales. To the ...

There are a lot of myths about this subject. Adult butterflies are much tougher and resilient than is generally supposed. In certain circumstances, a Brimstone can live for up to a year in the wild. In captivity, with good husbandry, I have kept male and female Purple Emperors alive, healthy and wel...

If you have experience of this subject and are resourceful, all stages of livestock can be transported with very little if any harm to the living stages, even the imagines. Not for many years now, but, I have sent and received butterfly livestock in various stages to all parts of the globe and in th...

Haha Guy ... feed the local birds and increase butterfly survival rates ... splendid nature assist ploy

In the UK, some years you can still find Apatura iris larvae on leaves well into November before moving to the twigs and trunks to select a suitable hibernation site to spend the winter months, always fully exposed to everything the weather throws at them. Some mild winters see leaves on the Willows...

This little beauty spent about an hour nectaring in my garden today. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/MGJohn/Natural%20History/Various27thSeptember2012012.jpg So freshly emerged, it's wings still not fully dry and stiff and even a small gust of wind would see those new wings flex and bend. Sev...

I think Speckled Woods might have suffered from the appalling April and early May this year. The warm March meant many had emerged early and it suddenly went very wet and cool for 6 whole weeks, making finding a mate more difficult as they would no doubt have been hunkered down much of the time. Mu...

... This looks like a pretty scene with a Provençal short-tailed blue peacefully nectaring: http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/alcetasspider1201.jpg Appearances can be deceptive. The blue is dead and is being held up by an amazingly camouflaged spider, whose legs you can just make out poking up ...

Male Brimstone visited my back garden this afternoon. Settled briefly on some Petunias ~ my wife planted them and they can be a good attraction for Hummingbird Hawk Moths. None seen this season ~ Hoped the Brimstone would stay but, it was off strongly flying east in the warm sunshine to who knows wh...