My Top Three

[Wild-Woman]

If you listed your top 3 sightings of 'species new to you' this year, what would they be?
Mine are
1-Scarce Emerald Damselfly Lestes dryas
2-Small Red-Eyed Damselfly Erythromma viridulum
3-Clouded Yellow butterfly- Colias croceus

I could go onto birds etc but these three set me on fire this year.

Julie

[Alan]

These new species are the ones that come to mind:

1) Muntjac Deer – spotted one last week in local woodland.

2) Speckled Bush Cricket – at the Wicken Fen meet along with some other new Crickets to me.

3) Hornet – not the recent ones, I first saw a couple hunting near a nest earlier in the year.

Alan

ps: Can I sneak in Camberwell Beauty! – spotted two weeks ago!

[glsammy]

I go along with Small red eyed damselfly, as I was involved in the count at a site in Leicestershire where they were seen for the first time. Spotted by our one and only Fourwings!
I'd also go for Emerald damselfly, a real little beauty I'd never seen before.
And my third would be Painted Lady, I never saw one last year, but this year I've seen plenty, and each one a joy.

[jennyb]

I've seen lots of new things this year, mainly because I have opened my eyes to them for the first time. Instead of thinking "That's a pretty butterfly", I have tried to find out what they all were! Here are my top 3 (because I found them really beautiful):

1) Silver-washed fritillary
2) Comma
3) Banded demoiselle

However, the biggest thrill this year (even though I'd seen them before) was the tiny baby muntjac just a few weeks old

Jenny

[May]

1. Hobby
2. Buzzard
3. Dunnock (I think it was this year that I spotted one for the first time)

[DL]

1. Clouded Yellow.
2. Clouded Border.
3. f.gammina edition of Silver-Y.

[Imaginos]

Off the top of my head my three standouts are

1. Violet Black-legged Robberfly Dioctia atricapilla
2. Drab Wood Soldierfly Solva marginata (always nice to encounter a new family)
3. Adonis Ladybird Adonia variegata (got three (possibly 4) new species of ladybird this year, this was my favorite though.

[UB4 gardener]

mangora acalypha- quite a pretty little spider, normally heathland but 2 became residents in the garden

Gorse sheildbug- great watching the whole lifecycle aand also i think one of the prettier(?) sheildbugs

Red tipped clearwing- it was in the garden for about a minute nectaring on hemp agrimony, my first ever clearwing.

Chris

[Susie]

Three! How can I narrow it down to three? This has been such an amazing year for me I could quite easily list dozens and dozens. I shall try though.

1. Hummingbird Hawk Moth.
2. Wasp Spider.
3. Hornet.

[Andy Warne]

If Alan's having four I want four as well!

In no particular order,
1) Smooth Snake, terrible view but exciting to see
2) Badger, they couldn't resist the lure of corned beef sandwiches
3) Marsh Helleborine, surely one of our most attractive flowers

and

4) Large Marsh Grasshopper, very impressive insect