On 14 April I photographed Gorse Shield-bug, Piezodorus lituratus, on a gorse bush at the edge of the Scottish Heath Garden in RBGE. The following weekend I was…

March 2016, like February, began on a rather windy note as Storm Jake passed through although the Garden was relatively unaffected. The month’s other major storm, Katie over…

February started stormy, with the tail end of Storm Gertrude quickly passing into the next one in the series, Henry, at the beginning of the month. Both storms…

January was a changeable month. It began as 2015 had ended – wet and windy – but there followed some cold frosty days around the middle of the…

December was a very wet and stormy month, with three named storms: Desmond over the first weekend, Eva in mid-month and Frank towards the end. The Garden was…

November began as October ended, quiet and mild. However after the first few days there was an abrupt change when a series of Atlantic depressions brought gales and…

October continued the long quiet dry spell in the first half of the month with unseasonally warm days. The second half of the month was a little more…

September was another largely dry, bright sunny month, with significant rainfall on only three days. Five more species were added to the Garden’s list, bringing it up to…

On 17 September 2015 I photographed a leafhopper on alder (Alnus glutinosa) next to the small pond near the Botanic Cottage site. The leafhopper had a very distinctive…

August was quite a bright sunny month especially in the second half, with 23rd being a particularly glorious warm day. Eight more species were added to the Garden’s…

July did indeed start with a heat wave as hinted in June’s report, but once that ended it was all downhill with much of the month being wet…

June continued to be rather chilly at the start although there was a brief warmer spell mid-month and again towards the end, when a heat wave was being…

Wool Carder Bees (Anthidium manicatum) have been present in RBGE since 2011. This year the first bees of what will be their fifth season in the Botanics were…

On the morning of 29 June I arrived at the back door of the herbarium to start my day’s work and spotted two insects on the door. One…

In the week of 15-19 June six species were added to the Edinburgh Garden’s wildlife list, taking it over the 750 mark. “Species 750” was a minute black…

May began as April ended – chilly for the time of year. There were one or two warmer spells, and the Botanics weather watchers will tell you that…

April 2015 see-sawed in its weather, with a warm spell in the first week or so (till 9th, with temperatures up to around 18 degrees C in the…

March 2015 was another chilly month that ended, just after “Summer” Time began, with showers of hail and sleet. Two species were added to the Garden’s invertebrate list…

February 2015 was chilly for the most part with temperatures mostly not rising above 7 degrees C, and with a light snowfall near the beginning of the month….

The first month of 2015 started off mild, bringing out a few invertebrates, but turned colder from mid-month with some frosts and light snow. There were a few…