29 Monday Dec 2025
Posted in insects
It can be tricky to find a subject for the letter X in this countdown but this year it was made easier when I found a new fly last July (see Fly: Xyphosia miliaria, 31 July). Here is that little cutie.
28 Sunday Dec 2025
Posted in insects
Tags
British butterflies, butterfly, Large white, Large white butterfly, Large white larvae, Large white pupae, Marbled white, wasp parasitising Large white pupae
In this 2025 countdown, W is for white, as in white butterflies, specifically Large white and Marbled white butterflies. When I found my first Large white pupae this summer, I had no idea that those finds would also lead to an interesting if rather gory tale of parasitism, of both the Large white larvae and the pupae being prey to parasitic wasps and to those wasps also becoming the prey of another species of parasitic wasp. If you dare, check out my posts: Large whites and parasitism , part 1, 23 June, and Large whites and parasitism, part 2, 24 June.
On a more positive and, for me, absolutely delightful note, this was a fabulous year for Marbled white butterfly sightings, from my first of the year seen during my first mini break in Weymouth (The Marbled white and the Skylark, 21 June); to a day wandering around Leckhampton Hill near Cheltenham, bewitched by the sight of more Marbled white butterflies than I’d ever seen before (An exuberance of Marbled whites, 8 July); and, a couple of days later, seeing even more of these stunning butterflies during a wonderful day Roaming Rodborough Common (11 July). Simply magical!
27 Saturday Dec 2025
We’ve had Foxes (F is for Foxes) and Grey seal (G is for Grey seal) in this countdown so far; our third mammal is the vole – in fact, two species of vole. In January, I was very pleasantly surprised to see a live Bank vole, albeit only fleetingly. It was only the third time I’d seen this vole species though, to be honest, I’m still not one hundred percent sure this is a Bank vole (Bank vole, 11 January).
And it’s always such a delight to see the local Water voles, particularly this First Water vole of the year (24 February).
26 Friday Dec 2025
Posted in insects
Tags
British gall flies, Bulb thistle gall fly, Cirsium vulgare, gall fly on Spear thistle, Spear thistle, thistle gall flies, Urophora stylata
As each of the seven species of Urophora gall flies found in Britain has its own distinctive wing pattern and is mostly plant-species specific, this is one of the few genera of flies to be relatively easy to identify (I write ‘relatively’ as some wing patterns can look similar if you don’t manage to get clear photos, and you’d want to be a good enough botanist to tell which thistle or knapweed species you’re looking at). Fortunately for me, Urophora stylata has a unique wing pattern and almost always uses Spear thistle (Cirsium vulgare) as its host plant, so I was able to identify my first flies of this species when I saw them this summer (Urophora stylata gall flies, 2 July).
25 Thursday Dec 2025
Posted in birds
Tags
Arctic tern, birding, birdwatching, British birds, British terns, Common tern, Little tern, Sandwich tern, terns
Terns are such skilled fliers that they are always a real delight to watch in motion and, during 2025, I’ve had the absolute pleasure of spending time watching four different species, mostly because of my three summer visits to Weymouth but we’ve also had a couple of tern visitors in Cardiff Bay as well.
First up were Common terns (Sterna hirundo) (above), seen in large numbers during my first visit of the year to Weymouth, which was particularly special as these birds breed at Lodmoor Nature Reserve (Breeding Common terns, 17 June). I saw the Common terns during subsequent visits too, and we were treated to super close views of a rare visitor to Cardiff in later September (below) (A Common tern up close, 26 September).
Little terns (Sternula albifrons) breed at Chesil beach in Weymouth and I saw several of these little beauties during an earlier visit to Weymouth, at Ferrybridge, on 10 June, though I didn’t see any of the chicks and my photos from that visit only showed distant specks along the beach. I managed to get better, though still not close views of Little terns during my second Weymouth visit – these are included in a post about Lodmoor’s distant birds, 7 August (shown below).
We had an Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea) visitor in Cardiff Bay in September but it was always too distant for anything other than distant blurry record photographs, which is why I didn’t blog about that sighting. And my final tern species for the year was the Sandwich tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) (below). These beauties were on show at Ferrybridge on 9 September and at Lodmoor on 11 September (Sandwich terns, 19 September). It was a terrific year for terns!
24 Wednesday Dec 2025
Posted in spiders
Tags
Agalenatea redii, Agelena labyrinthica, Anyphaena accentuata, British spiders, Cheiracanthium erraticum, Eratigena species, Larinioides cornutus, Larinioides sclopetarius, Metellina segmentata, Pardosa species, Philodromus spiders, Platnickina tincta, Segestria florentina, spider, Steatoda nobilis, Zygiella x-notata
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.
23 Tuesday Dec 2025
Posted in birds
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.
22 Monday Dec 2025
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).
21 Sunday Dec 2025
Posted in birds
Tags
autumn migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff birding, Grey phalarope, Lisvane Reservoir, Red-necked phalarope
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!
20 Saturday Dec 2025
Posted in insects
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.
earthstar 
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