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in the Isle of Wight. I can’t match any of these (not a ‘real’ lepidopterist I suppose). But my heart went all aflutter 10 days ago when I saw a small tortoiseshell.It’s a bright and pretty species, for sure, but it’s also arguably Britain’s commonest and most

are getting ready for the big planting session after half-term.There are precious few bugs about still. A small cloud of diaphanous winter gnats flutters above the shed but all else is quiet, until I pull up a small groundsel plant. There, wriggling

small picture-winged fly, Rhagoletis meigenii (pictured above), in London's Battersea Park in June 2000. At the time this pretty little insect was thought to feed on the native Berberis vulgaris, but was believed to be extinct in Britain, having been

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

I'm on my way through the old city of Strasbourg, and gardens here are vanishingly small. The occasional secret courtyard houses a giant ginkgo or has its walls swathed in lobelia and Virginia creeper. The breakfast patio at the Hotel du Dragon has

I was in Peckham Rye Park on Monday and saw a wagtail strutting about by the small stream that runs past. They're not rare birds, but I watched it for some time thinking I had not seen one in ages. Although maybe not really a suburban garden bird

When we moved into our previous house, in Nunhead, there was some small, but well-established growth of Japanese knotweed in the back garden. It took four years of pulling up stalks and roots to get rid of it … at least I think we got rid of it

is one of the bleakest stretches of water in south London. But as I watched, it arched its neck down and down closer to the surface, then with that sudden darting plunge it snapped up some small wriggling thing, tossed it into the air and gulped it down

-escape balcony, over the block of back gardens, to see if I can spot any life anywhere. And with perfect timing, announced by a series of metallic ‘tsit tsit tsit’ notes, a small gang of titmice comes bobbing over the hedges and lands in next-door’s cherry tree

knocking into too many other promenaders, I decide to head for the picnic tables near the Anoplotherium herd for an early lunch. Or is it a late second breakfast?Tucking in to our home-made quiche, and carrot cake, I notice a small bird flickering about