Trumpington Meadows April 6th

First Butterfly Transect of 2026 completed - not a lot about - recorded a few Brimstone, Orange Tips and Peacocks. As my route finishes a distance from the car park, I looked at the various other insects on the wing as I returned to the car. The Rhombic Leatherbug is an attractive 'variation' on our common Dock Bug, the diamond-shaped abdomen is easily overlooked. Several Hairy Shieldbugs waking up from hibernation. Not many bees around considering the temperature 14-15 degrees.

Toft Bees and Other Insects

 A selection of insects from Toft Churchyard taken on a warm sunny 4th April 2026 (IDs on final image)

Toft 30th March Flies

 The Bee Fly is a parasite of mining bees dropping its eggs into the open burrows where the grubs feed on the bee's young. A sunny afternoon brought out a large number of bees and flies onto the daisies and dandelions in the village. Here are a few of the Diptera species - not the most attractive collection unless you like hairs and bristles but certainly demonstrates the large variety even semirural (gardens, verges, churchyards) environments support. Bees etc to follow!!

Paxton March Survey - Meadow Trail

Yesterday was our first wildlife survey of the year at Paxton Pits. This is traditionally our 'Signs of Spring' session though we do try to record whatever plants, insects, birds etc that we see. Here is my selection on a very unspring-like day, starting with a most endearing Nettle Weevil which I thought was just a bit of detritus on a nettle leaf. Amazing number of insects etc found considering the air temperature only averaged 5 degrees though there were periods of sunshine that warmed the leaf surfaces. Tentative ID sheets at the end as usual.

CNHS Granchester Meadows

 The Cambridge Natural History Society surveyed the plants etc in Grantchester Meadows in 2006 and 2016 so this year is time to repeat the survey. We met on Sunday afternoon at the Cambridge end. The first two meadows are known as the Lamppost Meadows as each has a lamp-post at its centre from 1920-1940 when the meadows used to be flooded with water pumped from the Cam and used for skating. There is an attendant’s hut at the corner of the first field, where the fee of six pence for an evening’s skating was collected. It is managed in a traditional manner - once the meadow has dried out there may be a summer hay cut and it is grazed until the end of the year.  No fertilizer or herbicide has been used. The public path alongside these meadows emerges into open meadows stretching to Grantchester, owned by King’s College. The CNHS group were identifying and recording all the plants species including grasses and sedges while I concentrated on the invertebrates, lichens, galls etc. Here a few plus possible IDs sheet. I was intrigued by the spore cups of he nettle Rust, Puccinia urticata,