I'm a professional artist & illustrator and amateur naturalist with a passion for the natural world. I have a particular interest in moths though I tend to record these on iRecord with my Gloucestershire Moths group. So far I have recorded over 350 different moth species in my wooded 2 acre wildlife garden as part of my bioblitz project. My garden has a special mix of habitats, with a fresh water brook on the northern boundary, ditches and a large boggy pond, so we get a lot of wetland species here including a breeding pair of wild moorhens and some rare micro moths. We also back onto farmland and with over 211 trees, we have farmland, woodland as well as garden species too. Amongst the 211 trees are over 50 different varieties, meaning again that we have a great biodiversity of species that feed on different species of tree, from Scot's Pines, Larch, Leyland and Lawson Cypress to English Oak, Elm, Aspen, Hornbeam, Horse Chestnut, Catalpa, Wild Service Tree, Sycamore, Ash, Black Walnut, Beech, Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Whitebeam, birches, willows and cherries. The three female Goat Willows and one male, are particularly striking in spring and I still have hope of seeing a purple hairstreak or purple emperor butterfly one of these days as we have both the caterpillar and adult food sources here...I keep hoping! I only tend to include species I already know the identity of and have a photograph of but I'm always grateful for ID help. One of my targets this year, is to get a photo of the kingfisher I have seen darting along the brook and photograph more moth and solitary bee species! :D