Swiss Garden at Old Warden

We hadn't visited the Shuttleworth Collection and Swiss garden at Old Warden for several years and so decided on a visit there yesterday, remembering the cafe for an old-fashioned brunch and large areas of wild garden beyond the formal area in the Swiss Garden. Unfortunately the cafe has been modernised and, just our luck, the kitchen was closed. The gardens are still impressive for the tall trees etc but it has all been 'tidied ' up and certainly is no longer the haven it was for insects. These are all I found in a 90 minute visit - the Welsh Chafer (brown beetle) has not been reported on the NBN atlas anywhere in the area so was an interesting find. The strange looking bug is a nymphal stage of the Tree Damsel Fly. Certainly the very hot conditions did not favour an insect hunt except for the Four-Spot Chasers.

Heat-Loving Garden Species

 It has been very warm and mostly sunny for the last few days and the insects seem to be 'enjoying' it though they sensibly shelter under leaves etc at the hottest times. Here are a variety of residents and visitors, including a brief morning call from a Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Red Admiral and Meadow Browns , which are present in large numbers, two moth species, and various flies, beetles etc

 

Insects from West Scrub Paxton

A warm day for our survey of West Scrub area at Paxton Pits yesterday. The markings on the White-backed Tortix Moth (Hedya salicella) remind me of a Chinese landscape - the red tufts on the shoulders are part of its patterning. The second photo shows what appears to be a mispairing of a Buff-tailed female with a male Tree Bumblebee. Otherwise lots of Plant Bugs, Beetles and Hoverflies

Garden Hemiptera (Bugs!!)

 The warm conditions yesterday certainly brought out all the Hemipterans in the garden. Here the ones I have managed to ID. There seem to be endless species on the oak tree - a day's work sometime!! The nymph eating aphids on the rose bud show their value in the garden and I was surprised to find how many aphid species there are and often restricted to a single plant family eg. the Knapweed Aphid.

RSPB Frampton Invertebrates Recorded June 2025

Finally sorted and identified, as far as possible, the invertebrates that I photographed on my visits to Frampton Marshes last week. 

Frampton Birds 8th June

 I made a third visit to Frampton on the last day of our Lincolnshire holiday and concentrated in the morning on the birdlife, especially the Sedge Warblers and Reed Bunting in the reeds, the Spoonbills feeding, Sand Martins at their artificial bank, a visiting Red-crested Pochard, Lapwings and Little Ringed Plover.