I guess I’ll have to come back in a few weeks to check if this is Orchis anthropophora, the man orchid. Near Maidstone.

Erynnis tages, dingy skipper. Can’t remember the last time I saw one of these. Probably on the South Downs, 50 years ago. Very early. Chalk down near Maidstone today.

Dreadful picture I know but interesting find of the day is Cryptocephalus sexpunctatus on chalk hills near Maidstone.

Fave bug of the day so far, Euleia heraclei, celery fly. Mostly on hogweed and other umbellifers. Common, but pretty and distinctive.

I’m at the full zero-stripes end of the gene pool with Cepaea nemoralis, the black-lipped hedge snail, today. Several like this, but not a dark band in sight.

First, I think, speckled wood of the year.

The CGI of the fake moon missions is much better now than back in the 11th century.

Wildlife-watching from the comfort of your own home — two rosemary beetles, Chrysolina americana, on the lavender in the kitchen window box.

Bibio marci, Saint Mark’s flies. So named for their regular appearance around Saint Mark’s day, 25 April. They’re early — tempted out by the warm sun today. Changing phenology because of warming climate in southern England?

Twayblade, Neottia ovata, in a wood near Rochester. Widespread, but not common. The last time I saw it was probably 50 years ago when I was out with my dad, in the woods near Rochester.

I like beetles, I like them a lot. So I’ve written a book about them to indoctrinate children. dk.com/products/978...

This water-skater was doing the equivalent of water-limping. Half its middle right leg is missing so it’s normal mid-and-rear quadruped balance is completely off.

You know you’re in a better class of holiday let when the dead fly on the window ledge is a horsefly, Hybomitra distinguenda by my guess.

Cream-spot tiger, Arctia villica? Crawling over the Tennyson Trail, Mottistone Down, Isle of Wight. Busiest long-distance (ish) walk since the South Downs Way several years ago. Lots of walkers, joggers and cyclists so we moved it to the verge.

First Orange-tip of the year and unusually it’s a female. Mottistone Down, Isle of Wight

The large tortoiseshell, reckoned extinct for over half a century, but now recolonized. I look forward to serious mischief on elms and other trees as reported by Eleanor Ormerod, 1898, Handbook of insects injurious to orchard and bush fruits.

Rhyparochromus vulgaris sunning itself on the fence today. One of several running up and down the woodwork. Now very widespread since its first discovery in the British isles about 15 years ago. Large white marks on thorax distinguish it from the heathland specialist R. pini.

Fabrics from yesterday’s Verrall Supper. Now in its 139th year. Dipterist George Verrall used to pay for all his guests, over 300 in the early 20th century. They probably all wore wing collars and frock coats. Now you can more or less wear what you like, but you have to pay for yourself.

Migratory ladybird, Harmonia axyridis on the 185 to Victoria.

Water skater, and reflection of the photographer.

You can’t beat a chalk hill figure and an archaeological dig in a model village. Bekonscot. Just fab.

Wallace and Gromit went to the moon in a rocket that was not held together by rivets — kitchen cupboard lentils were just the right size. Young V&A, formerly the Bethnel Green Museum of Childhood.

Actually. I’m going to commission a knitted waistcoat in that pattern. Right now.

You’ve obviously just knitted that.

Probably late 2026 or 2027.

Started in 2023 I have today sent 100,000 words and 342 illustrations on woodlice to the publishers. I will now have a cup of tea and some ginger nuts.

Hornets, wasps and maggots. Anyone fancy organizing an entomological field trip to Dante’s Vestibule of Hell? What with the constant supply of evil souls hateful to god and his enemies it’s probably a thriving ecosystem down there.

A question for ecologists. Or linguists. If sylvicole species live in woods, sabulicoles live in sand, cavernicoles live underground, synanthropes live near human habitations, and calcicoles haunt chalk and limestone, is there a similar word for organisms of acid soils?

It's a little known fact, but librarians often try to slip a finger, thumb or wrist portrait into the photocopying you've requested. It's a kind of challenge puzzle for future historians.

Yes agreed. Book louse. Or in this case magazine louse. Not many found on books these days unless your library is truly mouldering. We have a different species in the kitchen feeds on spilled food wherever I have failed to maintain suitable levels of hygiene.