Macro Practice at Paxton Pits

 Photographers are never satisfied with the weather - today was a bit to hot and breezy for our macrophotography session at Paxton Pits as the insects were sheltering from the sun or waving around on leaves. All the Damselfly species other than the Emeralds are now on the wing and we managed to find most species and also an obliging Hairy Dragonfly perched plus quite a few views in the air together with the occasional Green-eyed Hawker etc. Right at the end we came across a couple of unusual Shieldbugs - Eurydema ornata only appeared in the south of England in 1997 and seems to have abandoned its usual coastal preference.

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