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That warm Saturday (April 26th) brought out the first butterflies of the year: holly blue, small tortoiseshell and speckled wood. They're all common garden species, but I always get a thrill when I see any of them.The female holly blue

It’s been fascinating to follow the tweets of butterfly enthusiasts as they marked the arrival of warm weather during the last fortnight, by discoveries of green hairstreaks, Duke of Burgundy Fritillaries and even some large tortoiseshells

My 2010 garden tally of butterfly species is now up to six. We've had single visits from large white, comma, peacock and small tortoiseshell. They obviously didn't find much of interest in my garden, so dipped down, bustled about one circuit

snails, or perhaps a dew-encrusted millipede huddled down into the thatch. What I saw, was a succulent plump emerald gem - the chrysalis of a speckled wood butterfly.It took me some while to recognize exactly which butterfly species it belonged to

and dropped to the floor. And yesterday the cats brought in a huge black and grey moth - the old lady, Mormo maura - which fluttered around the kitchen ceiling until rescued.Wednesday also brought the first large cabbage white butterfly of the year. I don

As usual, during the Easter holiday break, we find ourselves watching garden wildlife in sunnier climes -- in the Isle of Wight. At St Lawrence, on the southern tip of the Island, not only are we significantly nearer the equator than East Dulwich, but the land tips steeply down t...

At last, a butterfly in my garden. Now I know from comments on previous blogs that others have already seen lots this year. There's a tendency to brag about them, I think. But my garden was empty of butterflies until Saturday. Then, like buses

We have a tiny patch of long grass in our garden, less than a couple of square metres. It's mostly the exceedingly common Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus) and false oat (Arrhenatherum elatius). Nevertheless, it's attracting several butterflies

wilderness.The evening air is alive with the sewing machine whirr of grasshoppers and bush-crickets, and the distant piping of field crickets sweeps in from far-off grassy knolls and rocky outcrops. And in the morning we are engulfed in wildlife.Butterflies

In the Horniman Museum Gardens earlier today and a brightly coloured butterfly caught my eye as it visited a low dandelion flower. I skulk up to it and discover a painted lady, Cynthia cardui. This is only the third I have seen this year.A native