Category Archives: insects

Turtle bug

23 Monday Mar 2026

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I found this little bug dead when I was picking up small rotting logs to see what might be lurking beneath, in a meander around Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park three weeks ago. I thought it was a Tortoise bug (Eurygaster testudinaria) and recorded it as such but my identification has since been corrected.

Turns out I had confused Turtle with Tortoise! This is, in fact, a species of shieldbug, a Turtle bug (Podops inuncta). Though I don’t think it’s clear in my photos, this species has ‘two small projections on the pronotum at each side of the head’ (thank you, Nature Spot).

The habitat in which I found it also fits with what the Nature Spot website says: ‘it is strongly ground-dwelling and rarely found unless searched for’; that explains why I’ve never seen one before, and encourages me to keep lifting up those small rotting logs.

New cat: Large yellow underwing

20 Friday Mar 2026

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When the days are wet and/or gloomy, insects hiding deep in the vegetation and birds difficult to see and/or photograph, I often resort to getting my hands dirty, turning over small boulders and/or picking up small logs and fallen branches to see what lies beneath. This is a recent, rather unexpected find from one of those days, the larva of a Large yellow underwing moth (Noctua pronuba), which, apparently feeds at night and hides underground – or, in this case, under log, in the daytime. You can see images of other larvae and the adult moth on the UK Moths website but I’ve also posted images here, in my blog Moths Matter, August 2023.

A huddle of 7-spots

18 Wednesday Mar 2026

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When the sun deigns to appear from behind the seemingly interminable clouds, ladybirds venture out to sit on leaves, especially Stinging nettles I’ve noticed, to soak in the sun’s warmth. Yet our spring weather is currently so fickle that many ladybirds are still, as they frequently do during the colder winter months, happily huddling together, like these five 7-spots (Coccinella septempunctata) I spotted last week in a local park.

No booming Bittern but …

09 Monday Mar 2026

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A 10 minute walk to my nearest train station; a 15 minute train ride to central Cardiff; an 8 minute walk to the correct bus stop; a 20 minute bus ride; a 10 minute walk to Parc Tredelerch (plus some waiting time in between those various journeys) and all in the hope of hearing a Bittern booming out its love call from the reedbeds. Did it boom? No, it did not. But the sun was shining, I got plenty of exercise walking around and round the various trails in the park, and, a beautiful bonus, I saw my first Comma butterfly for 2026.

And wouldn’t you know it? That darn Bittern boomed again early the following morning. It obviously didn’t like the look of me!

Four weeks early

07 Saturday Mar 2026

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Last Monday, 2 March, I was delighted but also rather astounded to see my first Speckled wood butterfly for 2026 – astounded because this is four weeks earlier than I saw the first of this species in 2024 and 2025. This is nowhere near a UK record though, as the first sighting I found on iRecord was reported at Old Colwyn, in Denbighshire, on 21 February, and there are two other February records in the system: in Cornwall on 22 February and in north Essex on the 25th. The second of March was obviously a warm day across Britain as mine was one of several sightings recorded from various locations on that day. (Of course, these are only the sightings that have been recorded; other Speckled wood butterflies may have been seen but most people don’t record their sightings.)

Three shieldbug species

06 Friday Mar 2026

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The number and variety of invertebrates that are now out and about is gradually increasing, though seeing them depends on reasonably warm, sunny days, which are still very much intermittent here in south Wales. When the sun does shine though, shieldbugs can be seen basking on the trees of shrubs and wildflowers, and I’ve now managed to spot these three different species.

Hairy shieldbug (Dolycoris baccarum)

Hawthorn shieldbug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale)

And Green shieldbug (sometimes called Common green shieldbug, Palomena prasina). Both of the above are Green shieldbugs but this species changes to a bronze colour before winter hibernation and takes a little time to change back to its usual green hue come the spring.

Hoverflies and bumblebees

04 Wednesday Mar 2026

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As the day and night temperatures begin to rise and we start to enjoy occasional sunny days, the number of flying insects continues to rise. Spring has only just begun but I’ve already logged two species of bumblebee and three hoverfly species on the wing. They are …

The hoverflies: Eristalis pertinax, Episyrphus balteatus and Meliscaeva auricollis

The bumbles: Buff-tailed bumblebee and Common carder.

Breaking news!

25 Wednesday Feb 2026

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I’m interrupting the series of blogs on sightings from last week’s mini break in Dorset to bring the best possible news … we have butterflies!!!

Yesterday the temperature in Cardiff reached around 14ºC, warm enough for butterflies to emerge, and, during a walk around Cardiff Bay, I saw my first four Brimstones of the year, two at the wetlands reserve and two more – the two shown here – at the adjacent Hamadryad Park. I find it difficult to express how I feel when I see butterflies in flight; their magic makes my heart sing. If you haven’t seen your first butterflies yet, I hope you do soon!

My first moth of the year

18 Wednesday Feb 2026

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Those moth-ers who run nightly moth traps have been reporting, on social media and despite the often detrimental weather, that small numbers of moths have begun appearing in their traps during the past couple of weeks. As I don’t trap, I’ve just been keeping an eye out in the places I sometimes see moths, usually on walls near where outside lights are on at night. And, finally, last Thursday, I spotted my first moth of the year, a new species for me, an Early moth (Theria primaria). As you might guess from its name, this is one of the first species to be seen each year, appearing in January and February. Though the UK Moths website says it’s usually found in woodland margins and hedgerows, this one was on the panelling around a building site, though the opposite side of the path is full of trees and scrub.

Beetle: Athous bicolor

16 Monday Feb 2026

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This is the last of my new invertebrate finds from 2025, and it may or may not be the beetle Athous bicolor, found in shrubs around the edge of a local recreation field last July.

My specimen appears to have the features described on the Naturespot website – ‘quite an elongated species’, ‘elytra are brown in colour with ridges and pits running down their length’, ‘pronotum is slightly darker’, ‘legs and antennae are unicolourous with the rest of the insect and the antennae are very long’ – but their identification difficulty indicator is red, meaning the features are not as clear as the description indicates and/or there are other very similar species.

Still, it was an interesting beetle to find and photograph. This species is generally found in grassy, shrubby areas, sometimes feeding on umbellifer flowers or just sitting in the sun on long grass stems. Good luck if you find one and want to identify it!