Cute cootlet

30 Thursday Apr 2026

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Though I’ve been hearing the hungry cheeping of tiny baby birds in nests obscured deep within dense vegetation, I’ve not seen a lot of chicks yet this year. I did see the first local Moorhen babies three weeks ago, on 8 April, but they were, wisely, mostly hiding amongst the reeds and my photos weren’t share-worthy. So, when I was walking along the boardwalk on the edge of Cosmeston’s east lake on Tuesday and heard a low peeping, I was delighted, when I cleared the dense reeds, to spot this well-grown Coot chick feeding with its parents. And just look at the size of that foot!

Blood bees

29 Wednesday Apr 2026

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It’s just a week since I wrote on here that I find bees ‘tricky to photograph and even more difficult to identify and, though I don’t usually duck a challenge, bees are simply a step too far’. And then I saw a bundle of these red-and-black bees, and couldn’t help myself – they looked so lovely and distinctive that maybe, just maybe they were identifiable. So, I took some photos.

Of course, when I checked my photos later that day, it didn’t take long to discover that they’re NOT identifiable, at least not to species. I can tell you that they’re Blood bees, of the genus Sphecodes, but there are 17 species of Blood bee in the UK and they need to be examined microscopically to distinguish one from the other.

I did discover that these bees may look lovely but they have a dark side; Blood bees are kleptoparasites (or cleptoparasites). The entry on the Naturespot website explains that they are parasites of

ground-nesting solitary bees, including Halictus, Lasioglossum and Andrena. The female enters a host’s nest and breaks into the cell, killing the egg or grub. She lays one of her own eggs and reseals the cell. When the egg hatches, the grub consumes the food intended for the host species’ larva.

Nesting material

28 Tuesday Apr 2026

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When, from a distance, I first spotted this Great tit, I wondered what on earth it was doing.

It was plucking constantly and vigorously at something on the ground that it was holding down with its feet.

The bird was so focused on what it was doing that it wasn’t bothered about my approach and I was able to get a series of photos before the bird flew off with its prize.

Reviewing my photos, I realised that the object the tit was plucking at was part of a tennis ball, most probably an old dog’s ball that had fallen apart and been abandoned. At least now it was proving useful to the Great tit as nesting material, and I rather liked the idea that the bird and its nest would be colour-coordinated.

Lifer: Box bug

27 Monday Apr 2026

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Sunday week ago, as I was meandering my way around the outskirts of my town, I found an area of shrubs that was warmed by the bright sun and also sheltered from the seemingly relentless cool easterly wind. Not surprisingly, it was alive with insects enjoying the warmth, and this little creature was one of those.

At first, I thought it was a Dock bug but, on closer examination, I realised it looked similar but with some significant differences: its body was slimmer than a Dock bug’s; its legs were smooth and pale; and, most tellingly, its ‘shoulders’ were angular and pointy. This was my first ever Box bug (Gonocerus acuteangulatus – note the epithet ‘acute angle’ that references those ‘pointy shoulders’), a rare find in Wales, where fewer than ten have so far been recorded.

I wondered about the reason for this bug’s rarity and found the answer on the British Bugs website:

Historically very rare and known only from Box Hill in Surrey, where it was found on Box trees, this bug has expanded its range dramatically during the last decade and now occurs as far north as Yorkshire and as far west as Devon. This range expansion has been aided by a shift onto numerous other foodplants, and it is now most frequently found on hawthorn and buckthorn.

Peak Wild garlic

26 Sunday Apr 2026

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It’s peak Wild garlic flowering time in my local green spaces, making a visit to my local park a culinary experience – the smell is so strong you can almost taste it in the air!

On Wednesday I went for a stroll through Cwm George woodland, a local hotspot for Wild garlic (or Ramsons, if you prefer; Allium ursinum), and it was just glorious.

The lush green swathes of Wild garlic, with their abundant brilliant white flowers, looked so picturesque carpeting the earth beneath the towering Beech trees and garlanding the edges of the woodland pathways.

And it wasn’t only the human visitors who were appreciating the profusion of flowers. Flies and bees of many species, hoverflies, butterflies and beetles were all lapping up this springtime feast.

First damsels of 2026

25 Saturday Apr 2026

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This has been an exciting week as new species of insects seem to have been emerging each and every day.

The Large red damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) is usually my first odonata species of the year, and this year is no exception. In fact, I spotted my first two on Tuesday, the 21st, the exact same date as last year, though in a different location.

And this week’s fine weather and warm temperatures have meant that more damselflies have emerged very quickly. When I returned to Cosmeston Lakes Country Park on Thursday, I found ten Large reds, and I’m sure there were more lurking in the vegetation.

NFY: Green-veined white

24 Friday Apr 2026

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It’s been 13 days since I found this Green-veined white butterfly (Pieris napi), my most recent new species for 2026, and what a little beauty it was, a brilliant white but with the subtle grey-black markings on its upper wings that are typical of this butterfly. Of course, I’ve seen many more of these since that first sighting, and they’ll all be busy finding butterflies of the opposite sex, mating and egg-laying; this species has two generations each year, so there’s no time to relax and enjoy the flowers!

The return of the Willow warblers

23 Thursday Apr 2026

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Just before I heard my first two Willow warblers this year, I was attacked by a stray Bramble branch that somehow managed to wrap itself around my left ankle without my noticing so, when I kept walking, its grip tightened, and, despite my attempt at some fancy footwork to try to free my foot, I went crashing down hard on to a tarmac path. I was the April Fool, or at least I felt that way!

Fortunately, two passing cyclists helped this old lady up – getting up is the hardest part, I find, as I get older, and I began to hobble home. I’d only taken a few hesitant steps when I heard the birds, belting out their song from vegetation on one side of the path. It was as if Nature was giving me a little present, something to smile about, and a very welcome distraction from my rapidly swelling left knee and the pain that was starting to spread through my body.

Not surprisingly, the photos shown here were not taken that day but a week or so later, when I heard another Willow warbler singing at Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park, at a spot where a bird – the same bird? – had held a territory during each of the previous few summers. Their distinctive song is one of my favourite signs that the long fine days are returning.

Bug: Harpocera thoracica

22 Wednesday Apr 2026

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My local park railings have produced the goods yet again, this time in the form of three nymphs of the same bug, Harpocera thoracica. I found that a little surprising but a bug expert on social media pointed out that these nymphs can usually be found just as the leaves of Oak trees are uncurling, and the tiny nymphs are so light they get blown out of the trees by strong winds.

There are Oak trees growing next to my park railings, and the day before I found these, it had been blowing a hoolie, so the scenario fitted perfectly. And the nymphs are tiny; that’s one of my fingers in the shot below. I was trying to stop the little creature scurrying over the edge of the railing before I got a picture.

I’ve only seen an adult Harpocera thoracica once. I included a photo of it in a blog a few years ago (Gone insecting, June 2021), but I thought I’d include that photo again here. As you can see, they look totally different to the nymphs. And now I’m motivated to spend some time leaf-fossicking in local Oak trees to see if I can find any more.

A female Tawny

21 Tuesday Apr 2026

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I don’t post many blogs about bees. I often find them tricky to photograph and even more difficult to identify and, though I don’t usually duck a challenge, bees are simply a step too far. Having said all that, this particular bee is one even I can name, or, at least, the red-haired female is: she’s a Tawny mining bee (Andrena fulva). Even these can be a challenge, as I find them flighty, flitting off at the slightest movement, so I was rather pleased to get this shot. Her colour is so rich – imagine having hair that colour?!