S is for spiders

24 Wednesday Dec 2025

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What a fabulous year this has been for new spider sightings, mostly inspired by the new spider guide book I bought with the financial support my local biodiversity records centre provides to its recorders. (I hope they’re pleased with the new records I’ve now provided.)

The image above is one of my new finds, Platnickina tincta (Spider: Platnickina tincta, 21 February), though this particular specimen was found very recently, on 14 December, on my local park railings. If you’re an arachnophile, you might enjoy perusing my list of this year’s finds; if not, I will completely understand if you prefer simply to scroll on. This year’s blogs: Spider: Steatoda nobilis, 25 March; Spider: Zygiella x-notata, 31 March; Spider: Larinioides cornutus, 7 April; Spiders: Philodromus species, 6 May; Spider: Segestria florentina, 21 May; Spider: Cheiracanthium erraticum, 31 May; Spider: Anyphaena accentuata, 4 June; Spider: Pardosa species, 11 June; Spider: Agelena labyrinthica, 9 July; Spider: Agalenatea redii, 9 September; Spider: Metellina segmentata, 20 September; Spider: Eratigena species, 13 October; and Spider: Larinioides sclopetarius, 28 October.

R is for Red-throated diver

23 Tuesday Dec 2025

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For several days at the end of September, I and many local birders were treated to the rare appearance in the sea just off Cardiff Bay’s Barrage of this Red-throated diver (1 November). For me, this was quite special, as it was only the second time I’d seen this species, and I’d love one day to see the bird in full breeding plumage, but I think that’s probably unlikely.

Q is for Quercus

22 Monday Dec 2025

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As I know I’ve stated on this blog many times before, the various species of Oak tree (Quercus species) play host to a huge number of organisms of many types, forms, and colours. These are some I’ve been lucky to see this year: two species of fungus, the Oak mazegill (21 November) and Black bulgur (Fungi: Black bulgar, 24 October); several species of bug that have all featured in this update already (B is for bugs and beetles) but are worth another mention as they spend all or most of their lives on Oak trees: Cyllecoris histrionius, adult and nymph (12 May), Rhabdomiris striatellus (10 June), and Bug: Megacoelum infusum (12 September).

I also managed to find several Common quaker (Orthosia cerasi) caterpillars on a single Oak (included in Cool cats, 2, 5 June); the gorgeous lacewing shown above that has since been verified as Hemerobius micans and is found especially on mature oaks (Two lacewings, 4 September); the folded-over Oak leaf lobes created by a gall midge (Galls: Macrodiplosis pustularis, 2 June); and the stunning little Acorn weevil, shown below, that lives in Oak trees and lays its eggs inside acorns (Weevil: Curculio glandium, 1 August).

P is for Phalarope

21 Sunday Dec 2025

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One of this year’s birding highlights was undoubtedly the influx of Grey phalaropes, blown in by autumn gales to many locations along the Welsh coast and even to some inland sites during September. In my county of Glamorgan, the local bird club reported an incredible numbers of sightings

with observations from Kenfig (maximum count five), Ogmore Estuary (three or four in total), Cardiff Bay (seen at several locations), Llanishen/Lisvane Reservoirs (at least two), Barry (one, possibly two, on The Knap), Llandaff (one on the River Taff), Llwyn-on Reservoir (one) and Rumney Great Wharf (one).

I was lucky enough to spend time watching the two Grey phalaropes on Lisvane Reservoir on 16 September (above), and another, on the River Taff, on 22 September (below) (Two Grey Phalaropes, 24 September, a blog post that also included a short video clip of the Taff sighting).

To my delight, and that of many keen birders and local visitors alike, the two Grey phalaropes on Lisvane Reservoir were accompanied by the Red-necked phalarope shown below (Lifer: Red-necked phalarope, 23 September). What a special day that was!

O is for Odonata

20 Saturday Dec 2025

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As I mentioned earlier in this end-of-year countdown, 2025 has been a very good year for odonata finds. As well as the Norfolk hawker, the Common hawker and the Keeled skimmer I’ve already included in this countdown, I was privileged this year to see my first ever Scarce chaser (Lifer: Scarce chaser, 19 June) and only my second ever sighting of Black darters (Black darter, 23 August) (below).

Somewhat unexpectedly, I also saw a Scarce chaser on a subsequent occasion, a couple of weeks after my first sightings of them in Weymouth, this time in Tiddesley Wood near Pershore in Worcestershire, when I used Cheltenham as my base to explore several places in the surrounding area. That slightly kinky individual is the one pictured below.

N is for nest

19 Friday Dec 2025

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Nest: noun; a structure built by birds or insects to leave their eggs in to develop, and by some other animals to give birth or live in (Cambridge Dictionary).

In January, I spotted a Nuthatch excavating a hole in a tree in which to make its nest (Nest excavation, 25 January), though on subsequent visits the hole seemed to have been abandoned.

At the end of March, during one of my local meanders, the screeching of several Rooks drew my eyes upwards to discover several nests, with adults feeding well grown but ever hungry chicks (A new rookery, 2 April).

When is a nest not a nest? Check out the Cyathus striatus fungi I wrote about at the end of January (Fluted bird’s nest fungi, 31 January).

M is for mite

18 Thursday Dec 2025

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When preparing this series of countdown blog posts, I revisited the two locations where I found Grape mites (Galls on grapevines, 26 July) earlier this year, hoping to take a new photo to accompany this post. Unfortunately, I’d left it too late, as the grape vines were both bare, their leaves dead and already dropped off or blown from their branches on to the ground below. My find of this miniscule mite was one of my ‘first for Wales’ sightings in 2025 and I’m quite surprised to note that no other sightings have yet been recorded though, on checking iRecord, sightings do look quite sparse across Britain so far. I’ve already made a diary note to check for the mites (Colomerus vitis) again next year, and will be on the lookout for their telltale signs in other locations.

L is for lepidopteran lifers

17 Wednesday Dec 2025

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The 11th of June was a red letter day for Lepidoptera! I was enjoying a mini break In the Dorset seaside town of Weymouth and had caught the bus to the Isle of Portland to look for butterflies in the unique habitat of Portland’s former stone quarries. I was specifically hoping to see my first Lulworth skippers, and I did (Lifer: Lulworth skipper, 16 June).

I was not expecting to see a second lepidopteran lifer that day, but I did, my first ever Silver-studded blue butterflies (Lifer: Silver-studded blue, 14 June). It was the stuff my dreams are made of!

K is for Keeled skimmers

16 Tuesday Dec 2025

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Dragonflies feature in three of my countdown blog posts this year as I’ve been fortunate to have seen several new species, and others that I had only seen once previously. Keeled skimmers, blogged about on 26 August, were one of the latter species, and what a delight it was to watch them skimming back and forth around the ponds at Maesteg, a new site for me that I plan to revisit next year.