When wildflowers are in full bloom and butterflies are on the wing, our summer days are awash with spectacularly vibrant colours. But amongst the dazzle, the chalkhill blue (Polyommatus coridon)…

The thick-legged flower beetle (Oedemera nobilis), also known as the swollen-thighed beetle, is one of the county’s most striking insects.

The unmistakable flash of orange drifting across a spring meadow is one of the most uplifting signs that the season has arrived.

Buzzing meadows and humming heathlands come alive in summer with the sounds of grasshoppers and crickets. These tiny insects form a part of the season’s soundtrack, filling warm days with their…

As spring sunshine warms our gardens and woodlands, one of the earliest and most energetic pollinators to appear is the tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum). With its distinctive ginger brown thorax,…

Among the many butterflies that grace our countryside each spring and summer, few are as instantly recognisable, or as dearly loved, as the striking peacock butterfly (Aglais io).

Small and fast flying, the holly blue is usually the first blue butterfly to be seen each year, appearing from late April and May.

The small tortoiseshell is one of the most recognisable butterflies in the UK. Its wings are a rich reddish-orange, marked with bold black patches and flashes of yellow on the forewings, while a…

As autumn deepens, the days grow shorter, the air turns crisp, and many of our familiar butterflies vanish until spring. But one species refuses to disappear. The comma butterfly, with its ragged…

November was once the quiet season for bumblebees. By mid-autumn, most colonies had died away, leaving only newly-mated queens tucked into soil or leaf litter to wait for spring. But across the UK…