Spring is Progressing with Damselfly Pairing and Painted Lady

The Jumping Spiders have really thrived in the hot dry weather and whenever I am weeding, whether at ground level or, as here, in the currant bushes, one of them is eyeing me up. Fortunately he caught a leaf hopper soon after this. First Painted Lady of the season and the Red Damselflies and Azure Damsels are paired up and laying in the pond. The Weevil is exquisite in the detail for a very very small beetle - I haven't yet found a suitable match. 

New and Returning Garden Species

The cooler but still sunny weather yesterday was ideal for insect spotting in the garden. Here are photos of some of the more interesting species (plus ID sheets with rest). The Figwort Weevil is about 4mm and just looked like an insect dropping. Good to ID another bee species that is using the Hotels - the Orange-vented Mason Bee, and always happy when the first Speckled Bush Crickets appear with their striped socks. The spider has a very metallic sheen which appeared green or bluish depending on its position. Only small patches of Spindle Ermine caterpillar webs at the moment.

Flowers at Barnack Hills and Holes

Although our RPS Nature Group found plenty to photograph at Barnack Hills and Holes yesterday, the dry conditions have had a very bad effect on the flora with very few orchids compared to other years (eg only one very small Man Orchid). The Pasque flowers were still putting on a good show with all different stages still present but the Early Purple Orchids were past their best. I resisted going on an invertebrate hunt and concentrated on flowers but there were lots of incidentals like the beetle on the Rock rose, the small spider on the orchid and the small Hymenopteran on the Pasque Flower.

Toft Garden Spiders

 I am a bit behind identifying the various mini-wildlife in the garden, so these spiders were from a warm day last week. No certainty on species as very difficult without capturing and dissecting various parts but hopefully the genus in each case is ok