Toft Garden 'Ugly' Bug Parade

I am still sorting the species etc from a garden recording session yesterday so here is an 'Ugly Bug Parade' from Toft - amazing what a macro lens reveals. The first is a Bee-Grabber fly which jumps onto a Bumble Bee to hitch a lift to its nest where it pays its fare as an egg laid in the Bees nest. The emerging grub feeds on the pollen and the bee larvae! The final image shows a Flower Spider that has captured a Hoverfly.

Garden Species August 13th

We have a very large number of Flower Spiders hiding in various types of vegetation - all quite small at the moment but growing fast, along with Nursery Web and Garden Spiders. This first Flower Spider has taken over the prey, a Red Ant, from web of another species I think (pretty sure Misumena does not make webs). The last image, a Garden Spider has an interesting looking prey ?Shieldbug species - will need further investigation. The other photos are some of the garden's really small inhabitants like the Barklouse found on a daisy and the 22-spot Ladybird. ID sheet at end.

Shieldbugs etc from RSPB Sandy

This is the final set of images from our trip to RSPB Sandy on Wednesday featuring Green Shieldbugs from the tiny 1st instar nymph to 4th stage instars, Stenotus bug, Hairy Shieldbugs and the Red-legged Forest Bug and several other photogenic species. Identifications in final image

Garden Spiders etc

Definitely to be too hot in Cambridgeshire to be outdoors photographing insects so these are the remainder from yesterday's garden hunt. The Flower Spider (Misuna) was deep inside a white rose with its prey while the Labyrinth spider has built an impressive den in the Acanthus. Blue-tailed, female immature Common Blue and male Azure Blue all competing for space around the pond. Favourite species the Figwort Sawfly. IDs on sheets at end of images.