My Wildlfe Garden April 28th 2026

Each year, I photograph the species in bloom in my Cambridgeshire garden several times during the spring and summer to compare with previous years. Today, I did a quick photoshoot in my garden which is a riot of colours and full of flora and fauna - not my best efforts photographically but demonstrate what I am sure others in this area are finding that the species in bloom are about a month earlier than previous years - Ann Miles Blog: My Wildlife Garden in May. The insects and spiders are also very active in the warm temperatures - I hadn't noticed the Cricket Bat Spider on the Spurge or the Collembolid on the buttercup till I looked at the photos.

Life in the Compost Bin

The wet and warm weather recently has encouraged a mass of slime moulds in my compost bin. I brought in a Ground Ivy plant and a few Silver Birch leaves that are coated in fruiting bodies. I think the two species evident in the third shot are Lamproderma scintillans and Didymium squamulosum which are Barry Webb says are often found in the same habitat at the same time (to be checked).

Christmas Log

Amazing what grows/lives in and on the various logs I have scattered round the garden. I am resisting trying to identify all the Collembolids as I think it might be a very time-consuming job - I am not even sure whether the long-legged creatures in the tird and fourth photos are Collembolids! Lots of mini fungi Grey caps, Fire Rug and Jellies plus a spikey slime mould, Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa, and what I think is Nectria gracilipes, a fungus same genus as coral spot.

Launde Walled Garden

The walled garden at Launde is very extensive with several borders of perennials as well as the Vegetables and Fruit trees. I got immersed in photographing the flowers covered in dew with the misty backgrounds and almost missed breakfast on Saturday.  

More Garden Minibeasts

Quite a few more sessions clearing the paths in the garden and recording any minibeasts taking shelter there. Not sure how many are new species for the list (IDs at end) but I haven't recorded the striking striped Hemipteran nymph (Nysius spp) before. Mainly small spiders but also one large beautifully marked snail.