Lakenheath Minilife

I decided to give my Zeiss Touit 50mm macro lens an outing on Wednesday at Lakenheath reserve. Here a Scorpion fly, Common Froghopper, Spiked Shieldbugs, small ichneumon wasp, Robber Fly, Hoverfly, Angleshades moth and Comma butterfly.

 

Garden Safari

Here are a range of insects that were about in the garden on April 1st. First image shows a minute Barklouse which is a small, scavenging insect that feeds on fungi, algae, lichen and organic detritus under bark. The wings may be absent or reduced as in this one. The next three images are of  Hemiptera (Bugs) followed by the very attractive Hairy-footed Flower Bee and Common Carder Bee. The tiny Ichneumon lays eggs in moth larvae while the Mining Bee (Adrena nitida) will be searching for holes in the ground to lay their eggs. Safari fiished with Peacock Butterfly and Common Wasp.

 

Sandy Heathland - More Interesting Inhabitants

Thanks Richard for the information about the Ivy Bee colony at Sandy - we spent a fascinating couple of hours there watching the amazing number of bees digging (females) or just hanging around waiting for a female to emerge (males). I didn't manage a mating ball so I may have to return!! Perhaps even more interesting for me was the Digger Wasp that caught a fly and then flew off with it, a Broad-headed Bug (Alydus calcaratus)  and also one lonely Bee-wolf Wasp.

Unexpected Silver-Washed Fritillary on our Buddleia

As far as we know our nearest Silver Washed Fritillary colony is around 9 miles from our house so we were very surprised to see one on our Buddleia bush on Monday along with lots of Peacocks, Red Admirals and Tortoiseshells. Other garden inhabitants shown include first instar Green Shieldbugs (yes they are red!), mating Soldier Beetles, Adelphocoris leaf bug, Grasshopper, Firebug, Pied Hoverfly, Anthomyia Fly and German Wasps on our plums.

Switzweland 4. Some Insects from Schynigge Platte

As usual, I couldn't resist photographing the wide variety of insects including Shieldbugs,Skipper, Weevil, numerous Bees and Wasps, Cricket and Flies. All to be idenitified in due course.

Annual Homage to the Bee-Wolf Wasp and Friends

I always enjoy a visit to the Bee-Wolf Wasp colony not just for the challenge of getting them in flight but also for the abundant behavioural observations and the rarer species that you find there. The Fuji XT-3 is a great camera for this job with very fast autofocus and low contrast images in the bright light. There was a confrontation between a Common Wasp and a Bee-Wolf Wasp and a strange ant-like creature which turned out to be the nymphal stage of a plant bug Alydus calcaratus. Final two images of a female and male bee commonly known as the Pantaloon bee!