My wife got me hook, line and sinker on Tuesday. She made a moth out of paper, coloured it and stuck it up high by the kitchen clock on Monday night, knowing I'd see it early Tuesday morning when checking the time. For those interested, she chose Tiliacea citrago (Orange Sallow) as the base moth, bu...

Here's the view from our hotel balcony in San Jose. The national stadium on the left was a present from the Chinese government apparently. Stadium Diplomacy in the flesh !

We were lucky to spot all four of our cousin species. The white-faced capuchins like to utilise the railings of the wooden walkways at the Manuel Antonio Nature Reserve, but they do so completely on their own terms, seeing them as useful additions to their environment and they certainly love to lie ...

Now that's proper rain, Nick ! Your hotel balcony looks ideal for sitting and watching birds and butterflies with a cool fresco de piña con arroz beside you (or an Imperial beer). You never know, you might be sitting back there in better weather ... I was very impressed by the locals' knowledge of t...

Thanks Guy and Nick, UKB always delivers :-) I appreciate we were lucky with the weather, Nick. It certainly rained fairly often, but generally not for long and of course the rain over there is thankfully quite warm. I've attached a snap below from our hotel balcony in Monteverde - it's the closest ...

We saw a lot of odonata throughout our stay, but I didn't manage to take many snaps. As with the butterflies, if I've got any wrong please just shout. There's a couple I'm not sure of. Insects A and B were seen in the same area of dappled scrub that I photographed the mystery golden skipper above. T...

Another insect I thought was a moth with semi-transparant wings turns out to be a species of planthopper.

Excellent stuff ! Thanks Guy. Yes, for ID purposes, a fresher individual for C would obviously have been better. It certainly was extremely active though. My thinking for that species was based on this: https://www.butterfliesofamerica.com/L/t/Eunica_malvina_albida_a.htm Although the individuals in ...

There were a few I struggled with even with Google's help. Moth A and Butterfly A were seen at Puerto Vieja de Talamanca on the roadside close to the Jaguar Rescue Centre. This doesn't house and never has housed a rescued jaguar ;-), but it does have a large selection of rescued animals and is well ...

Few more....

The Many-banded Daggerwing was very much enjoying the sand on Manuel Antonio beach.

We went for a family holiday in Costa Rica from 13th to 29th of January. First time visit for all four of us and we very much enjoyed it. Seeing nature was a large part of the attraction but it wasn't a specific nature-led touring holiday. That said, the country is so rich in wildlife that you canno...

Thanks as always, aeshna5. Here's one I took in a fairly close location on 25th April this year. I was more confident in calling this earlier one a Meliscaeva auricollis . But on close inspection the latest one is extremely similar, so I reckon you're correct with this latest one too. Cheers. (And I...

No butterflies seen so far this month, but I did see a smart looking Feathered Thorn on Tuesday. Some moths really do have impressive large eyes - for seeing in the dark I guess. Also the slowest hoverfly (melangyna species?) I've ever seen in flight (Wednesday). Extremely ponderous/considered, almo...

A very autumnal looking Speckled Wood at work on Wednesday.

There were still a few Red Admiral and Common Darter about in the sunnier moments too. Also a male Winter Moth with wings held in Small-Heath-at-rest position.

That's a very interesting suggestion Bugboy, thanks. Each full rotation was performed very quickly, in a small fraction of a second, but that might be all the time it needed to pick up pheromones and assess direction. I watched it perform the twirl 5 or 6 times in the space of 30 seconds after which...

I saw an adult caddisfly last week performing some unusual (to me at least) antenna behaviour. It was resting on the outside side wall of a greenhouse, sitting in the usual position with both antennae fully outstretched in front of it. I noticed it was intermittently rotating its right antenna a ful...

Sorry Jack, couldn't stop myself as I was smitten. I suppose I might have taken a different view if it had piddled down all week !

Thanks David, yes there were loads including a few very new pups. The photos looking toward the Farne Isles and Lindisfarne were both taken on a beach walk from our cottage as the sun was setting. We woke up the next morning to hear that there'd been good views of the Northern Lights...I wish we'd k...

Spent 7-14th in Northumberland, staying on the coast between Bamburgh and Holy Island. What a beautiful part of the world. Highly impressed with Alnwick, don't think I've seen a more thriving post Covid town, loads of shops (many independent) and none closed down as far as I could see. Worth a visit...

Saw a couple of moth species at work on Monday and what my wife informs me are caddisfly eggs. One of the moths is, I believe, Marbled Fern ( Musotima nitidalis ). UK Moths tells me: Adventive. This species was first found in Dorset in 2009, and since then there have been quite a number of records s...