Photos of the month: May

The last of the late spring flowers

Your top first flower spotted was oxeye daisy with 72 records. A few garlic mustard and cuckooflower have also been trailing in. Our next first flowering event is ivy, so keep your eyes peeled from August onwards.

Showy shrubs

Hawthorn’s alternative common name is May because that’s when it flowers. So it’s no surprise that your top flowering shrub was hawthorn. You sent in 152 records of hawthorn first flowering in May.

Also brought on by the good weather are elder flowers attracting insects and foragers alike. Records for dog rose and lilac blooms are also coming in.

Terrific trees

You’ve been busy spotting 62 first ash leaf events. There are still some horse chestnuts showing off their white and pink blossoms.

Breeding birds

We’ve received so many fantastic photographs of nest boxes crammed full of young life. And along with these, 70 records of blue tits first feeding their young.  

We received 31 records of first blackbird juveniles. Plus this beautiful whitethroat (first seen) in full song. We even have a photo of house martin in the nest.

Find out more about blackbirds.

Beautiful butterflies

There are some stunning shots of your first seen butterflies. We received 142 first seen records of the wonderful orange tip. 

Orange tip caterpillars feed on cuckooflower and garlic mustard and other cabbage family members. So look out for females around these plants looking for a place to lay eggs.

Still to come…

I had an absolute riot rifling through all your wonderful pictures of spring. Keep the records coming as we go through summer. And please keep your eyes open for more species to come: grass flowers (Yorkshire fog and timothy), bramble first ripe fruit and rowan first ripe fruit.

Thank you to all our recorders. Every record helps scientists discover more about how UK wildlife is responding to a changing climate.

And a last look...