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?!

NFY: Orange-tip

20 Monday Apr 2026

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Male Orange-tips (Anthocharis cardamines) emerge first (and, indeed, that’s true for most butterfly species) and, in their search for females to mate with, they fly almost continuously up, down and around a defined territory, a frustrating activity, both for the butterflies as they wait for females to hatch and for the photographer trying to get shots of them. In fact, it’s exhausting just watching the constant activity of these little creatures and, though they do pause briefly to refuel and rest, you have to be in the right place at the right time to catch them. So far this year, my patient watching has not been rewarded; I’ve only managed to get blurry images of males as they zoom past.

Fortunately, the females are much less active, often staying in close proximity to the plants where they lay their eggs. I found the beautiful female shown here, sitting on a large pile of clippings of tall grasses and wildflowers. She wasn’t moving much, just gently quivering her wings, so I wonder if she had only just emerged from the pupa in which she would have over-wintered. Isn’t she gorgeous?

All the yellows

19 Sunday Apr 2026

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The splendid sight of road verges gleaming with the brilliant yellow of blooming Dandelions is fast becoming just a wonderful memory as the council tractors and strimmers once again destroy any wildflowers they see in the name of ‘neat’ and ‘tidy’, and this despite the loss of some devastating percentage (50%?) of our insect populations in the last couple of decades. I grabbed some photos before everything started to disappear …

Alexanders: in places like the coastal path the only plant in flower so currently feeding a lot of small insects.

Broom: this might survive as it was in a park surrounded by Brambles.

Cowslips: in a country park so surviving, and looking very lush.

Creeping buttercup: gone.

Dandelion and Lesser celandine: prime targets for destruction.

Gorse: these tend to survive until the flail gets used.

Marsh marigold: a small survivor from a more numerous population, where a volunteer group decided they would build a dead hedge. Make it make sense!

Meadow buttercup: gone.

Primrose: these tend to survive while they’re flowering, then it’s off with their heads!

Sea radish: on the Barrage so not strimmed but the many dogs like to pee on them.

Spider: Dysdera crocata

18 Saturday Apr 2026

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I was walking to the supermarket for a food shop, passing an old, stone, house boundary wall, when my eye caught movement low down so, of course, I stopped to look, and, upon noticing the movement was a spider, pulled out my camera (never leave home without one!) to take some photos. Being in the middle of town, I got some funny looks from passers-by, I can tell you, and I heard a young child ask its accompanying adult, ‘What’s that lady doing?’, but I’m used to that these days.

And I got my photos of a new-to-me spider species. Even better, the photos were good enough to distinguish which of the two Dysdera species this was. So, let me present Dysdera crocata, the Woodlouse spider, whose favourite prey is, unsurprisingly, Woodlice, and who can usually be found under stones or logs, or living in cracks in brick or stone walls.

When I checked my guide book and initially read about the two species being difficult to tell apart, my heart sank. But then I saw that D. crocata has 1 to 3 dorsal spines and 1 ventral spine on the upper part of its back legs, which I thought I could see in my enlarged image. And this was later confirmed by an expert on social media. So, it was worth the odd looks and muttered comments!

Recent Reed buntings

17 Friday Apr 2026

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The Reed bunting is a handsome species, beautifully marked in various shades of brown, a bird that I hear more often than I see, except at this time of year, the start of the breeding season, when the males in particular are more evident and more vocal as they search for mates – not that I’ve managed to get any good photos of males lately.

Of course, even when birds do show themselves a little more, they can still be difficult to photograph, obscured by twigs and branches and burgeoning leaves, as happened with the Reed bunting above. I was more lucky with the bird shown below that was feeding on the tiny seeds in the flower heads of a reed species. Now to find a co-operative male!

Tiny but feisty

16 Thursday Apr 2026

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It may have been tiny but it was feisty! This Zebra spider (Salticus scenicus) was getting annoyed at me invading its personal space when I was trying to get a macro photo, and it jumped at me a couple of times, presumably trying to protect its little territory and scare me off. But it was always attached to a fine piece of silk so, when I pulled back, the little spider dangled for a few seconds before climbing back up to glare at me from its perch on the park railings. I managed to get a couple of photos before leaving it to go about its business.

NFY: Large and Small whites

15 Wednesday Apr 2026

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Monday 6 April dawned bright and sunny, the breeze was light, and the temperature quickly warmed to the high teens Celsius. Conditions were perfect for there being butterflies on the wing in my local parks, so I went out to explore. The first two locations didn’t turn up much – too many people and dogs, but my final stop was just perfect. I saw 14 butterflies of 6 species, two of which were new for the year.

A Large white (Pieris brassicae) (above) appeared first, followed fairly quickly by a Small white (Pieris rapae) (below). Although a Large white is generally larger than a Small white, the size of both species can vary, and the way to positively identify these species is though the size of the dark markings on their wing tips.