Some species from yesterday's garden session - never seen a colour morph of the Hairy Shieldbug before but pretty sure this is what it is. Still lots of species and fair numbers of many plant bugs and also Spiders. The caterpillar seems to be the Garden Tiger rather than Jersey T and the other hoary creature is a Larder Beetle larva. ID sheet at end.
A walk along a track through long grass produced quite a variety of species. It was too hot for a formal session but I suggested the group looked for subjects where the backgrounds were far enough away to not distract as with the Hairy Shieldbug about to take off or where they added to the scene as with the Brown Argus. The Hairy Bug is one of those 'nearly' shots - great action shot but the front of head is not sharp. Crickets are always difficult to photograph as deep in the vegetation. Amused to find a very large Wasp Spider on the path and a minute Zebra Spider (back at the Centre). ID sheet at end.
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
