Flying Displays - Wasps and Red Arrows

I took my telephoto lens up Toft Drift to watch and photograph the Red Arrow display over at Duxford Airshow. While waiting I noticed a Wasp nest in the ploughed field by the path and set about recording their flight and nest building skills - quite large chunks of mud and stones were being flown in and the walls build. At the end of the show the Red arrows returned to their base low right over our heads!! The Wasps were definitely quieter!

Meadow Trail Paxton Pits

Friday  was a beautiful sunny autumn day for a walk round the shortened Meadow Trail at Paxton Pits and I decided to document the various features along the route starting with Cloudy Lake, Buttercup Meadow with view of Visitor Centre, the Board Walk by Rudd Lake, the Ramp, the path along Hayling Lake to the Ouse Way, another view of Cloudy Lake, the Gully, a panorama of Redlands, the Dragonfly notice and ending with a view of Heronry South from Bill's Bench.

Paxton's New Generation of Grebes, Herons and Cormorants

 Beautiful autumn day for a visit to Paxton though the strong morning sunlight proved a challenge for photographing across the reflective water. It is good to record the activity of our new generation of Grebes, Cormorants and Grey Herons and that there is plenty of fish to support them at the moment. 

More on Jet Ants

Over the last week or two, I have spent a long while watching ants running along a local metal fence and noting that the ants are all quite slender when travelling away from the nest and return with swollen abdomens. Last year, I identified these as Jet ants but I didn't follow the full story. To quote: The Jet Ant, Lasius fuliginosus, is a semi-social parasite of a semi-social parasite; that is, the species establishes its colonies in Lasius umbratus nests which are in turn founded in colonies of the Lasius niger/flavus species. The workers often forage on trails leading some distance from the nest to trees where they tend Homoptera for honeydew. Most of their diet appears to come from this source and they rarely seem to take insect prey; however, dead aphids are occasionally seen being carried back in workers' mandibles and they will take dead insects if offered. The nests themselves are made from a type of carton (wood fragments cemented together with saliva), usually in the hollow of a partially rotted tree, log or stump, or within a hedge bank or wall.

New Shieldbug Species in the Garden

My first record in the garden (and smell!) of an instar of the Southern Green Stink Bug, Nezara viridula - a recent arrival in the UK, which is similar to the Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina (3-5 white spots along the front edge of the scutellum and by the two dark marks at its corners). Native to Africa, but frequently imported to the UK in food produce, it is widespread in southern Europe and has been recorded annually from sites in southern England since 2003. I last photographed it in Sardinia in 2016.

 (https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3378979292310100596/6841836044332420155?hl=en)

Gall Hunt Grantchester Meadows.

 Each year Cambridge Natural History Society focusses on a particular area for its monthly field studies. In 2026 it is Grantchester Meadows between Newnham and Grantchester, last fully documented in 2006. On Sunday, we spent the afternoon recording all the Gall species that we could find. As expected with the low insect numbers this year, Galls were also a lot less frequent than previous visits. They were identified as we found them and entered on i-record. I have identified from my photos as far as possible! The Coleophora moth was a late find and is fascinating. The larvae initially feed on the seeds, flowers or leaves of the host plant by tunelling into the structures, but when larger, they feed externally and construct distinctive protective silken cases, often incorporating plant material. Many species have specific host plants; discarded larval cases are often scattered thickly on affected plants.