Insects on Flowers at RSPB Frampton Marshes

It was a warm and sunny day for our visit to RSPB Frampton on Wednesday, a bit breezy for macro but there are several paths that I knew from previous visits would be sheltered and these proved excellent for insects. Here a selection of insects visiting flowers, predominately Dog Rose and Hogweed , starting with two very small but distinctive wetland Hoverflies and a Soldier fly.

Paxton Insects

A few images from a walk round Redlands area of Paxton. Great number of Soldier Beetles at the moment, many mating plus Scorpion Flies and large numbers of Damselflies. All the Damsel photos I took turned out to be Common Blue Damselflies but there was quite a variation in markings from the adult male, teneral male, green form of female and blue form of female. Grizzled Skippers still on the wing, plus several dragonflies - here a female Scarce Chaser. Several Hoverflies (here Pipiza noctiluca) plus their larvae on the nettles

ID Sheets for Paxton May Survey

 The wildlife survey this month was the meadow adjoining Cloudy Fen which for much of the Winter was completely flooded so interesting to see if this has made a difference to the flora/fauna. Certainly, we found a lot of marshland insects especially wetland-specific Hoverflies and lots of Damselflies.

Life on Comfrey and Alkanet

The Alkanet and White Comfrey are in full bloom in the garden and provide home and food to a very large variety of species. Here are a few. The Rhingia rostrata has very impressive mouthparts for slurping up nectar!

The Bee and the Ant etc

A few more images from the garden during this week including this amazing head and torso of a Red Ant attached to an Andrena bee antenna. The bee had attempted to remove the ant but the jaws remained locked onto the antenna though part of the abdomen and most of the legs have been rubbed off by the bee. We also have a Hoverfly bee mimic Merodon equisetum and an early Cranefly.