Blog about my non-mothy ramblings around the Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens this month: www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/the-wild-sid... #NatureWriting

Interesting day with Alison Findlay, RHS outreach, in the new Colchester General Hospital drought-tolerant garden, looking at the wildlife. Plenty to see on this relatively newly planted site including Syritta pipiens, Cinnamon Bug, Carnation Tortrix (adult and pupal skin)and Sage Leafhopper.

Blog of our latest couple of moth events in the Beth Chatto Gardens www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/july-moth-mo... #NatureWriting

A small selection of moths from the Moth Morning at Beth Chatto Gardens today. Lots more than this: all will be revealed in a blog after my next event (aimed at kids) on Wednesday morning. #NatureWriting

New Blog of the #WildEssex exploration of Lower Lodge nature reserve, Wivenhoe. www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/wildessexwal... #NatureWriting

New blog (this time with link!) The Wild Side of Essex: High Summer by the Stour Estuary for @naturetrek.bsky.social A hard slog in the hot sun, with slim pickings, but lots of fun nonetheless with the minutiae of life. www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/the-wild-sid... #NatureWriting

New blog of our latest monthly short break, this time three nights in Stafford, at the Swan Hotel. A revelation to us! Maybe not as much wildlife as usual, but some wonderful architecture. www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/into-our-unk... #NatureWriting

Seriously impressive roundabout with underpass in the middle of Newcastle-under-Lyme. Attractive subtropical planting in its sheltered sunken centre, full of insects, and the noise of the surrounding roads minimised for users of the underpasses. Other authorities could learn a lot from this.

New Blog: Read my account of a mixed up month weatherwise in the Beth Chatto Gardens #NatureWriting www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/the-wild-sid...

Blog of our 'Moth Club' event in the Minories Garden, Colchester, at the weekend. Night Life in the Heart of the City. www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/saturday-mor... #NatureWriting

My latest blog: BOOK REVIEW Rough Edges by Natasha Carthew, for British Naturalists' Association www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/book-review-...

Especially proud of this blog, with all photos by 8yo granddaughter Eleanor. I am a very #ProudPapa! www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/wivenhoe-in-...

Blog of our moth morning in the wonderful Beth Chatto Gardens at the weekend: www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/midsummer-mo... #NatureWriting

...while out on the street, new #pavementplants are Feather Grass and Field Madder and in the park just one of the many Buck's-horn Plantain was showing Plantain Mildew, seemingly not recorded anywhere round according to NBN Atlas.

Walking round Wivenhoe in the dying embers of the day, three #carparkplants in our waterfront flats' courtyard carpark...Four-leaved Allseed, White Ramping Fumitory (now finished gloering) and new in this week, Large Quaking Grass...

And especially in Chelsea Physic Garden, a whole lot of invertebrates, nature in the heart of the city, including some seemingly interesting records. www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/a-trio-of-bo...

Lots of amazing flowers of course...

Blog of my wonderful three days last week touring botanic gardens: Chelsea. Oxford and Reading www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/a-trio-of-bo... #WildWriting

Thanks Nic, 'twas a wonderful day for us too, in Colchester where history & natural history converge. Three 'walls': Roman Wall about 2000y old, the Augustinian St Botolph's Priory 1000yo, & the 2yo 'horizontal wall' of the Meanwhile Garden. Seeing them with new eyes in delightful company!

Along with the first records for this summer of Common Blue Damselfly, Brown Hawker, Purple Hairstreak and Yellow and Black Longhorn beetle, while Banded Demoiselle now seems properly established having been only sporadic in previous years.

A couple of hot hours in Beth Chatto Gardens today found 8 new insects for the ever-growing list: 2 bees, 2 ants, 2 moths, a javelin wasp and the Hollyhock Weevil.

Blog of my trip for @naturetrek.bsky.social on Friday looking (mostly) at the Heath Fritillaries of Hockley Woods, along with other insects, galls, plants, birds, and geology & social history that shaped the place. "A little bit of Heaven" www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/the-wild-sid... #NatureWriting

For us today, we were in Chelsea Physic Garden. Along the many insects was the scarce hoverfly Pipiza lugubris, for which the NBN shows no spots in London... A blog of the rest will follow in due course.

We do get spectacular fiery sunsets from our flat! Makes the 54 stairs worth it!! #wildWivenhoe, where the fire and brimstone spirit of John Martin still resides.

New blog, of our hot half-term term break with Eleanor in Tunbridge Wells, Eridge and Hastings. www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/a-spring-hea... #NatureWriting

My new blog covering the last two weeks of May in the Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens #NatureWriting www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/the-wild-sid...

Beth Chatto Gardens today in the intense heat: a mass emergence of dragonflies, mostly Four-spotted Chaser but 4 other species; and mass orgy of egglaying damsels, here Azure, but 2 other species as well.

The feeling when you open up your photo timeline, find an amazing photo, then realise it came from your camera, but was taken by your then 7 year old granddaughter... Jealousy? NO, Pride!!! #ProudPapa

Blog of our (very) short break by bus last week, to Brentwood and Warley Place. Short, quite close to home, but packed full of fun and interest! www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/by-bus-to-br... #NatureWriting