More Garden Species

Although cool temperatures over the last day or so, the sun is still high enough to warm the garden foliage in the mornings bringing out lots of insects including this new Soldier fly for my garden list, Sargus bipunctatus, with two white spots and a lot of colours on the thorax and abdomen, the Hawthorn shieldbug and a new Gall Fly, Tephritis divisa.. Always happy to see old friends such as the Flower spider -  this time hiding in a Carrot seed head

16th August Garden Cameos

Sometimes photos taken mainly for identification and record purposes turn out to be very attractive studies of light and colour - this Lasioglossum Bee just caught the sunlight in a shadier part of the garden. Good to have a new Dragonfly visitor this season as a Migrant Hawker dropped in and rested on a cane for a while (in-camera stacks). Otherwise Flower Spiders, Woundwort Shieldbugs and the plant bug Dicyphus epilobi were all present where expected on 'Flowers', Hedge Woundwort and Greater Willowherb as their names suggest!!

RSPB Otmoor (1)

 My first visit to Otmoor (Oxfordshire) and was rewarded with some great sightings - Common Crane, Bittern, Heron, Red Kite with Prey in Talons, Heron and Spiked Shieldbug with its impaled caterpillar prey.   There were also some better photographic opportunities of small birds -  next Blog. The Grass Snake was nearer Aylesbury on a stopover.

Life in Miniature in the Garden

I decided last week to do a bit of sweep netting on the cut meadow and margins to see what lives at ground level. Before I started the sweep my eye was taken by this very small Pond Olive with spectacular eyes, a relative of the Mayfly. The Leaf Hopper is a miniature version of the Common Leafhopper

Sawflies, Ichneumons and Others from the Garden

Another batch from the garden last Friday when the wet conditions gave way to a really hot humid day that the insects found to their liking. Lots of different Sawflies and Ichneumons - most not able to identify from photo but will go in the garden database as photos with suggested family etc. The one with the very long ovipositor was very impressive - about 1 cm total size. The rain had brought out slugs and snails