Week 65: Black-headed Gull ('Chroicocephalus ridibundus')

The Black-headed Gull was @SpeciesofUK from 16^th to 22^nd June.

Black-headed gulls are a common species of UK gull, found just as often inland as they are on the coast.[1] They are noisy and quarrelsome birds.

Black-headed Gull
[Wikimedia Commons © Arild Vågen]

Week 62: Common Blue Damselfly ('Enallagma cyathigerum')

The Common Blue Damselfly was @SpeciesofUK from 27^th May to 1^st June, 2014.

The common blue is a small and brightly coloured damselfly that is common throughout Europe and the British Isles.[1]

Common Blue Damselfly
[Flickr Creative Commons © Rushen]

Week 57: Small White Butterfly (‘Pieris rapae’)

The Small White Butterfly was @SpeciesofUK from 7^th to 13^th April, 2014.

The small white is one of the butterflies (alongside the large white) that we sometimes call a 'cabbage white.'[1] It is one of the most widespread butterflies in the UK.[2]

Small White Butterfly
[Wikimedia Commons © James Lindsey]

Week 44: Snow Bunting ('Plectrophenax nivalis')

The Snow Bunting was @SpeciesofUK from 23^rd December 2013 to 5^th January 2014.

Snow buntings are small birds that breed mainly in the Arctic and migrate south in the winter.[1]

Snow Bunting
[Flickr Creative Commons © foxypar4]

In the UK, we have a large wintering population of snow buntings and we are also lucky enough to have a small summer breeding population, in the Cairngorms of Scotland.[2] Snow buntings have been described as “possibly the most romantic and elusive bird in the British Isles.”[3]

Week 42: December Moth ('Poecilocampa populi')

The December Moth was @SpeciesofUK from 18^th November to 8^th December, 2013.

The December moth is a fairly common species of moth found across the UK.[1]

December Moth
[Wikimedia Commons © Walter Schön]

The flight time of the December moth, as its name suggests, is late in the year. It can be found from late October to December.[2]

Week 35: Great Tit (‘Parus major’)

The Great Tit was @SpeciesofUK from 16^th to 22^nd September, 2013.

The great tit is a member of the tit family Paridae, which are known in North America as the ‘titmice’ and ‘chickadees.’[1]

Great Tit
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © Paul Gulliver]

Tits can be found right across the northern hemisphere and Africa.[2] The great tit has one of the widest ranges of all tits. It’s found as far east as China and as far west as Ireland and Morocco.[3]

Week 30: Hummingbird Hawk-moth (‘Macroglossum stellatarum’)

The hummingbird hawk-moth was @SpeciesofUK from 28^th July to 3^rd August, 2013.

There are over 2,400 species of moth in the UK.[1] The hummingbird hawk-moth is one of the most unusual-looking.

Hummingbird Hawk-moth
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © wnd.andreas]

The hummingbird hawk-moth is a member of the Sphingidae family, alongside 1,450 other hawk moths, hornworms and sphinx moths worldwide. Most Sphingidae are found in the tropics, but seventeen are seen regularly in the UK.[2] 

Week 21: Great Crested Newt (‘Triturus cristatus’)

The great crested newt was @SpeciesofUK from 28^th April to 4^th May, 2013.

The great crested newt is the UK's largest newt and its most threatened.[1] Sadly, the population has been in decline across the last 40 years.[2]

Great Crested Newt
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © Mike Richardson and Sarah Winch]

They are mainly active at night, spending the day at the bottom of ponds or hidden in vegetation.[3]

Week 1: Common Buzzard (Buteo Buteo)

The Common Buzzard was @SpeciesofUK from 2nd to 8th December 2012.

Common Buzzards are the UK's most widespread and common Bird of Prey.  They breed in every UK county.

Common Buzzard
[Source: Arend from Oosterhout, Netherlands]

Buzzard numbers are up dramatically since the 1960s, from 16,000 in 1966 to 70,000 now.¹ This is linked to rabbits gaining resistance to myxomatosis in the 1950s. They spread out from the hilly woodsides of the north and west of the country to the flatter south and east in the late twentieth century, as this infographic shows.