Spiders and Insects Toft and Trumpington

A mixed bag of images from the garden and from yesterday's Butterfly transect at Trumpington. The spiderlings on the parent's back caught my eye as I was deheading flowers yesterday along with various other spiders and beetles. Literally hundreds of Marbled Whites at Trumpington along with other species including the usual frustrating Skippers that are difficult to separate into species. 

 

Toft Garden 16th June 2026

The insects and spiders were very active in yesterday's warm sultry weather with a couple of species of spiders (Xysticus and Philodromus species) enjoying the abundant prey (Large-headed Resin bees etc) with several Large Red Damselflies also looking for prey. I always enjoy the early stages of the Ant Damsel and Red Bugs. ID sheet at end.

Full Spectrum Walk by River Cam

My full-spectrum camera captures a broad range of light, including ultraviolet (UV), visible, and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths (350 nm to 1000 nm). The results are very dependent on the amount of light around so the colours change in sunlit and shadow areas. Here a few scenes that I enjoyed capturing during a CCC walk along the Cam yesterday evening.

Redland's Triangle Survey at Paxton

For our monthly wildlife survey at Paxton, we concentrated on an area of Redlands that is particularly good for Wasp Spiders later in the season so were not surprised at the number of Grasshoppers (wasp spider dinners) present in the long-grass areas. Delighted to find a Red-tipped Clearwing, 2 Marbled Whites and several Small Heaths. The plant tally was equally long!! ID sheets at end.