Striped Insects on the Ivy

 The Hoverflies, Other flies, Wasps and even Moths were enjoying the nectar on the Ivy flowers today, and several spiders have already reduced the hundreds of Ivy bees that are out foraging in the garden amd village

Wasp's Attempt at Theft Foiled

My eye was caught by this wasp trying to steal prey from a spider's web. It had just about sawn off the fly's head  to take away when the spider Enoplognatha spp) arrived arrived on the scene. The wasp tried to escape but it was caught by strands of the web until its struggles broke the connection and it flew away. Interesting it had its sting out in the final frame - wonder if the spider or wasp would have won if it had not got free.

 

Insects in the Autumn Garden

Although the night-time temperatures dipped to near freezing the last two days, the sun has been warm and yesterday I recorded a large number of active insects including these very small Weevils on the hollyhocks, one of which appeared to be egg laying.

September Survey, Paxton Pits 1. The Gully

Yesterday was our final survey for the year at Paxton Pits and we split this between a gravel area with a strip of reeds along the centre, known as the Gully and another gravel area. The sun was slow to come out but it was warmer than recently and plenty of insects etc to record.

Bumper Day for Insects

The conditions were obviously ideal for insects today. Here a batch before the rain came. The Chalcid wasp was ovipositing into a knapweed head presumably finding a larva to inject its egg into. There are 1,717 at the last count of this family of minute wasps so chances of ID probably small!! Similarly not much luck with the tiny spider and its fly prey.