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, three came along at once.A green-veined white, Pieris napi, was the first to appear, fluttering down to examine the mock orange flowers. This is probably the most widespread of the ‘cabbage’ whites, since it occurs commonly throughout the British Isles

In the bright heat of this week's baking sunlight, a buzz of black and orange fur announces the arrival of what I think is one our cuddliest hoverflies. Merodon equestis is a large (12 - 15mm long), stout, bumblebee mimic, and although not quite

the mainland European form, orange spotted rather than the yellow speckled ones we get in Britain, and was that a swallowtail fluttering down the road?Each afternoon, as we sat in the garden of the gite, we were visited by hummingbird hawkmoths

'm not sure if I have any pictures of the momentous day itself, but I have plenty of images of insects taken near the house during the build-up.In the early 1990s land was cheap in central Florida, after severe frosts killed thousands of acres of orange groves

, Hampshire and Sussex when it first appeared in London around 2005.I've now given up noting when I see it, since this is inevitably many times a day. A flash of orange - no it's not a painted lady, it's the tiger. It's not a true day-flying moth, since

under a log or inside a tree hollow. But as it now rests with its wings spread to capture the warming rays of the sun it presents its bright orange upper side. As with other hibernators it shows its age: the orange is slightly less intense than in fresh

.The galls on the ground appear to have been broken open. Normally they fall with the leaves in autumn and by that time they are hard and dry and brown. But these were still greenish orange and the cavity inside each, where the pale grub should have been

nestling in the overlapping planks.These are the puparia of hoverflies, probably Epistrophe elegans, a distinctive little pale orange and brown wasp mimic, often the first species to appear on the wing in March and April. Resembling smooth translucent

fly, a huge bristly orange and black critter, Tachina fera. No English name for this one, despite being the size of a bumblebee. The trouble is that to merit a common name, insects have to satisfy two important criteria. First they have

to examine hairy legs, and it's the males that I've been seeing for the last couple of weeks, with their pale brown thorax and dark brown abdomen. The females are jet black, except for their back legs, which are bright orange with the hairs they use