Find out what the propagation teams have been up to this week
Wild Words from the Ground - May
POSTED 9th June 2025
Welcome to our series of blogs featuring the photos and sightings of wildlife in the garden (and outreach sites like Chattowood and the Meanwhile Garden) by our staff, whether in the office, shop, tearoom, nursery or garden. The images are curated and commented upon by Dr Chris Gibson, our Wildlife Advocate.
While the photos are not always of the highest quality – our staff are always busy doing their main jobs! – they give a real feel of life in the garden, something we are very keen to encourage, as indeed was Beth.
We start this month with the beetles. And one of the most distinctive is the well named Wasp Beetle, pictured here by Matt, its waspy colour pattern (so called warning colouration) presumably giving it some defence against being eaten by a bird or other predator. One of the longhorn beetles, the adults feed on pollen while the larvae bore into dead and rotting wood contributing to the decay process that is so important in any garden, recycling the nutrients to bring life out of death.
Another large but much bulkier beetle was photographed by Annie on her peony flowers. Cockchafers are big, bumbling beetles that as larvae eat the roots of plants, and as adults emerge especially at dusk and fly around in search of a mate, sometimes swarming in considerable numbers. They are known by numerous folk names across the country, including Maybug, Doodlebug and Billywitch.
All beetles and many true bugs have their front wings hardened into protective wing cases, and so these two groups of insects are often confused. One main difference is that beetles feed by chewing and bugs by sucking the juices of plants or other insects (or in some cases, like Bed-bugs, us!). If you get close enough you can see that a bug has a long straw-like ‘beak’, often held under the body when not in use, through which it sucks its liquid food. Another key difference is in the early stages: beetle larvae are grubs, whereas bugs have a series of progressively larger nymphs, like mini-adults. Bugs don’t undergo a full metamorphosis like beetles, butterflies and moths, for example.
And now is the time that adult bugs start to become more obvious. Hannah photographed a Striped Oak Bug, Hollie a Red-and-black Froghopper and Malin a Hairy Shield-bug with its distinctive chequerboard body fringe.
Everyone loves bees, especially bumblebees that are so important as pollinators of our flowers. Malin took a lovely photo of a Common Carder-bee showing well the pollen grains it was transporting between flowers.
Carder-bees build above ground grass nests in tussocks, by carding or weaving dead grass into the nest shape. Other bumblebees make nests in holes, underground, in trees or compost heaps etc while still others (cuckoo-bees) are parasites of other species’ nests. Nicola found the nest of Tree Bumblebees on the nursery. This bee nests naturally in tree holes, but will readily take to cavities we provide. It is also very much a new pollinator on the block, having established itself throughout Great Britain since it was first found in 2001. Solitary bees in contrast often nest in holes in sandy ground: Scott found some on the steps up to the Scree Garden, which have now been roped off while the next generation is raised.
May is the month when damselflies come into their own, especially around the ponds. Large Red Damsels have been flying since mid-April, but the blue damsels (especially Blue-tailed, and here in Sean’s photo, Azure Damselfly) came out in force in the first couple of weeks of May.
May is also often a great month for butterflies, with spring emerging species reaching their peak. Ben’s photo of a female Orange Tip shows an individual right at the end of its life, with wear and tear on its wings even when flying in good weather. The Green-veined White snapped by Cathy was in altogether better condition!
It has been lovely to see so many Small Tortoiseshells around this month (photos by Rob and Cathy). Once one of our commonest butterflies, numbers have plummeted since the arrival in this country of a specific fly parasite: perhaps the parasite is at a low ebb this year?
And in a pointer to the summer riches of butterflies we hope are to come, Scott posted a lovely picture of a pristine male Common Blue. He also found a lovely Cream-spot Tiger moth, often seen by day as its warning colouration signifies it unpalatability to potential predators.
And while on the topic of moths, Pete enjoyed this Vapourer caterpillar helping him pack the mail orders. What a remarkable caterpillar it is, with coloured tufts of hairs giving it the appearance of a psychedelic toothbrush!
Ben posted photos of ghostly webbing on stripped Euonymus bushes, which on closer examination contained hundreds of caterpillars. These too come from a moth, one of the smaller species, that emerge as white adults with black spots – the well named small ermine moths. And this species specific to this genus of foodplant is the Spindle Ermine.
Spiders are also increasingly obvious at this time of year, especially those females that carry around a large egg sac, like the two Nursery-web Spiders here, photographed by Rob and Cathy. As they get close to hatching, she hangs the sac in the middle of her 3D web, and soon it becomes a ball of spiderlings.
Amphibians and reptiles are ever-present in the garden, but some are seen only infrequently. Common Frogs can and do turn up anywhere in the nursery and in the gardens, like this one photographed by Malin, earning its keep by maintaining some natural order by preying upon invertebrates around the pond margin. Much less frequently seen are Grass Snakes, and Hollie was lucky to see one in the compost heap and even get a photo of its tail!
Moving aside an old traffic cone used to prop open a gate, Jo came upon the nest and eggs of a Great Tit in the space under the cone. As with the solitary bee nests mentioned above, the cone is now out of bounds, at least until any fledgelings need to get out.
So midsummer is now in sight and the wild side of our garden is in full flow. This coming month should see insect activity increase, so do come along and enjoy everything else the garden has to offer. There is much more to the garden than the flowers! One thing that might get in the way would be severe drought: on 21st May Scott photographed the first rainfall in the garden for several weeks, and the subsequent days have been a little more unsettled. But we are not yet out of the grips of drought risk, so watch this space!
For a different perspective on the last month, you can see Chris Gibson’s personal blog at the link below:
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