Gorytes laticinctus

A few years ago Gorytes laticinctus was a rare wasp in Britain, found in a few sites mainly in south-east England.→

Brimstone Butterflies

Gonepteryx rhamni, the Brimstone butterfly is an iconic species, possibly the original 'butter-coloured fly'.→

A Cache of Corpses

A couple of weeks ago I cleaned out the bird nest boxes on the farm in preparation for the coming nesting season.→

Spring Migrants

For 20 years now we have been recording the first arrival of migrant birds to our farm in Wales. The table below lists the dates for some of the species, those we have recorded every year.→

Nest Box Battle

This morning I tuned into the garden nest box camera to see how the blue tit (Parus caeruleus) was getting on. I was surprised to see not a bird sat patiently on a mossy nest, but sat instead on top of another bird.→

Slave raids on the Welsh Border

The Slave-making ant Formica sanguinea has a strange distribution in Britain. Common in parts of southern England and central Scotland the only other locations are a few sites scattered in the counties along the Welsh/English border.→

Spring Bees

We have two polytunnels which we use for growing tomatoes and other fruit and vegetables, bumblebees and solitaries enter and leave through the doors and pollinate the flowers, sometimes they nest inside the tunnels.→

Bee Hotel

Three years after I first wrote about the 'bee hotel' I thought it was time to produce an update.→

LED Moth Trap

Building a simple and inexpensive LED light trap for moth recording using 12v ultra-violet LED tape.→

Ynys Hir

Teal feeding on the seeds of Water-pepper, were they eating the seeds because there was nothing else, or through choice? Like a desire for ever hotter curries, can ducks get addicted to the burning taste, and take the dash to the water when it gets too much as part of the experience?→

Carnivorous Mellinus

Mellinus arvensis wasps were around the heather, apparently hunting the many flies feeding on the flowers.→