I mentioned in yesterday’s blog that I’ve visited Cardiff’s northern reservoirs a few times in recent weeks. When I have, I’ve usually completed a circuit of the two reservoirs than walked from there down through fields and woodland to Roath Park Lake before heading to the nearest station for the train home. During one of these walks I spent some time turning over the leaves of several willow trees in a field next to the reservoirs, and this is one of the creatures I found during that fossick, the stunning caddisfly Mystacides longicornis, my first of this species.

Some caddisflies are tricky to identify but I struck lucky with this one, as the patterns of its wings – those stripes of brown and gold – and its red eyes distinguish it from other species. I presume this caddisfly spent its larval stage, in its case constructed of tiny chunks of grit and sand, in the adjacent reservoir. The adults are usually seen between May and September, so I was lucky to see this one, almost at the end of its season.