Top Five Insects I’ve Seen – #1 – The Ruby-tailed wasp (Chrysis sp. or family Chrysididae)

As if you didn’t know it’d be a wasp! But look at it. It’s the wasp I show people to use as a crowbar to talk about wasp diversity. The first thing people who don’t know wasps say when you show them this little beauty, or any of their family, the chrysididae, is “Is that

Top 5 Insects I’ve Seen – #3 – The Cinnabar Moth (Tyria jacobaeae)

I hadn’t actually seen one of these until only a couple of months ago. Not their adult, flying form anyway. But when you see this beautiful vamp spread its wings it truly is something to behold. Seeing it Unfold its seemingly blood-stained black cape to reveal a bold red lining beneath. This moth is fashion

Top Five Insects I’ve Seen – #4 – The Rose Chafer (Cetonia aurata)

I was initially going to write a list of top five most striking UK insects but alas when I actually put grey matter to the task I realised the list would be mostly, if not exclusively, beetles. Beetles, the order coleoptera, are a huge group. Of all the species described in the world somewhere around

Top Five Insects I’ve Seen – #5 – The Tawny Mining Bee (Andrena fulva)

The Andrena genus of bees is astounding! These are the bees you are most likely to see around May-early June before the honeybees really kick off their hives. If you’ve ever been out on a warm, sunny day in April and seen lots of bees in the air, the bulk of them will be Andrenids.

My Top 5 Favourite UK Insects I’ve Seen: Introduction

Happy Insect Week! If you’ve been following for a while you’ll know my history with insects, but if not here’s the story. I was, at one point, before an autistic burnout turned my dreams to ashes, an aspiring biologist. It is safe to say that biology, ecology and wildlife were my first true academic love.

Dungeness – Weird and Wonderful

A look at Dungeness Nature Reserve, an amazing area of unparalleled biodiversity in the UK, full of moths, butterflies, bees, wasps, flies and beetles, a unique habitat and ecosystem that begs to be walked around and explored.

Is That a Wasp? A Simple Wasp Identification Guide

A short and simple guide, with lots of pictures, of how you can try and tell what’s a wasp from what isn’t. Also a simple description of how you will certainly fail!

#WaspFlower – Walk 1 – A Gallery

The photographic results of my first major walk attempting to find wasps on flowers for the Big Wasp Survey. I found more than just wasps and so we have beautiful galleries of wasps, beetles, bees, flies, flowers and others!

#WaspFlower – Join the Photo Challenge FOR SCIENCE!

A short article for The Big Wasp Survey 2021 where they are looking for photographs of wasps on flowers – hashtag them on instagram or twitter with #WaspFlower (and #WaspLove, of course) to join in this wonderful citizen science project.

Grown Up’s Guides: Hedge-hunting for Bugs

A short and step-by-step guide on how to enjoy a day gazing into the undergrowth and overgrowth to see the wealth of biodiversity that nature has to offer. Including many pretty pictures.