RSPB Sandy Insects

Saturday afternoon was just about perfect for insect photography with warm temperatures but light cloud most of the time clearing about 16.00 to give good directional light. RSPB Sandy as always produced some very interesting scenarios including this Sharp-tailed Bee taking a nap in the Lavendar (bees often 'sleep' clamped onto a flower or leaf with their mandibles but I haven't seen a vertical 'napper' before), tricolor jewel wasp,  lots of Green-eyed Flower bees, Hummingbird Hawkmoths and a Colletes Bee (Apps suggest Ivy bee but surely too early)

Macro Session at Paxton

The sky was cloudless on Thursday morning for our macro photography session at Paxton so I decided to go for dramatic portraits and therefore  look for situations where the subject was lit against darker backgrounds (normally I would be looking for even lighting to bring out as many details as possible for identification!). The Jade Hopper is always one of my favourite subjects (except it is very small!!). There were plenty of Grasshoppers/Crickets and other Hoppers though the Wasp Spider was catching as many as it could. Close ups of  Darters and Norfolk Hawker faces gave some good macro practice as they rested on sunlit branches.

Buglife in Toft Garden

The warmish but very humid weather over the last few days has brought out a wonderful selection of weird bugs both in the scientific use of the word (the Red Bug first and later stages, Hairy Bug) and wider for all the rest of my tiny friends. Great to see two species of Weevils on the Hollyhocks, and plenty of interesting flies around the pond and on the daisies with bees and the Ornate-Tailed Digger Wasp. 

Juniper Hall Final Morning

 A bit out of sequence but this post completes the record of what we photographed on the RPSNature Residential Weekend at Juniper Hall in Surrey and a very handsome collection of insects they are either from the moth traps of the vegetation in that area..