1000 species in a Leicester suburb. Read more...

Yet another new species? Read more...

One thing Leicestershire has going for it is that plagues of locusts are rare! But if locusts ever do descend on us, the solution may already be here. Read more...

Judging by the weather last week you might think so - it's dark by nine o'clock in the evening - but technically speaking we've got another month to go, so why is nature acting like it's autumn? More...

We keep adding new species to NatureSpot, and a recent addition has an interesting story attached to it. More...

A spectacularly variable species - More...

NatureSpot works on the basis of photo verification - but how good are your ears?

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This year, for various reasons, we have done almost no gardening. The garden is full of wildflowers. Wild, as in wild and out of control. More...

Last month we asked you to help us with a short user survey. We are very grateful to the 332 people who took the time to do this. What is clear from the results is that there is much love for NatureSpot, with people from all over the world commenting how much they appreciate the site. Thank you for your input! You can read the full survey results here. 

We hope everyone is enjoying the new NatureSpot website. It's certainly faster than the previous version and it's much better on mobiles.  We still have a few known issues to fix and we've had a few comments and questions via Twitter and Facebook but it would be very helpful to get your feedback on the new site - how is it working for you? Please give us your feedback.

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The NatureSpot website has been upgraded and given a modest make-over. Most of the functionality is the same as before but there will inevitably be a few teething problems to sort out. If you have any difficulty with the site or find any problems then please let us know.

NatureSpot is for recording the wildlife of Leicestershire and Rutland - all of it, including the mundane. In spite of that it's hard not to get excited when something new or unusual comes along. More....

The Emperor Dragonfly, Anax imperator, is one of Europe's largest dragonflies. The male is easy to identify with its apple green thorax, bright blue abdomen and blue eyes. The female is mostly green and also has the apple green thorax. More 

If you go out into the countryside at the moment it's hard to avoid the army of soldier beetles - brightly coloured and patterned Coleoptera - clambering to the tops of stems (frequently for a spot of al fresco sex). Although eye-catching, many species are very similar and surprisingly difficult to identify, so make sure you have a copy of this new fully-illustrated free guide to Guide to British Soldier Beetles by Mark Gurney in your pocket. And once you've identified them, send us your records please.

May is officially “Tick Awareness Month” in the UK. We should all be more aware of ticks, but “Tick Awareness Month” is actually a marketing campaign by a pharmaceutical company which is concerned with killing them. At NatureSpot, our interests are rather different. More… 

Recently the NatureSpot team met for an awayday at Holwell nature reserve where they found a rare cream-flowered form of Bush Vetch, Vicia sepium var. ochroleuca. More…. 

It seems odd to ask the question "Where have all the insects gone?" at the time of year when insects are most abundant, but a new report illustrates the worrying long term decine in insect numbers. More.... 

Occasionally records are submitted to NatureSpot which show insects parasitized by Tachinid flies. 
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