Bees on the Japonica

The Japonica on our fence attracted a lot of bees (here the Common Carder plus Early Bumblebee (last shot)) early this morning in the warm sun. Flight shots were 1/1600 at F10 - obviously need faster to stop the wing movement but I like the movement in the wings.

New Shieldbug Species in Garden

It has been confirmed that what I thought was a Green Shieldbug coming out of its brown winter state, is the Gorse Shieldbug, Piezodorus lituratus. A couple of Box Bugs were active, along with lots of Bee Flies and a Carder bee, photographed with its proboscis deep in an Alkanet flower - the latter is an excellent insect plant, flowering early and attracting lots of bee species.

 

Insects at Paxton Pits June 9th

On Sunday, I did a quick survey of what was around in the areas that we will use for macrophotography at today's Open Day at Paxton Pits. There are still lots of Scorpion flies around - particularly interesting to see a pair mating while snacking on a Damselfly caught in a spider's web.