Garden Pond and Meadow

The only downside to having a wildlife garden for me is the amount of time I spend merely watching the plants and animals rather than working in it!! Here some images taken in very bright conditions - there were at least 8 pairs of Red Damselflies and 2 pairs of Azure Damselflies egg laying, plus Pond Skaters, Newts and Wasps coming for water for nest building. The Buttercups are giving way to Common Vetch, Yellow Rattle and Scabious

Bees, Wasps and Ants, Crete

Bees, wasps and ants do particularly well in hot dry climates so was not surprised to find a good variety of species, including this tiny Jewel, A Ruby-tailed Wasp. The Paper Wasp was a particularly pleasing find on a grass stem at the top of a sandy beach.

Garden Safari May 4th

Lots of bees and wasps in the garden including a new one for the list, the parasitic species Nomada ferruginatus. I always love to see the first stages of the Speckled Bush Cricket.

Lakenheath Flies and Bees etc

 A few more images from Lakenheath on Wednesday. The flies were the most numerous insects including two new species for me Ceroxys urticae (Picture-winged Fly) and Sargus bipunctatus (Twin-spot Centurion), plus Coremacera marginata a snail-killing fly, Scathophaga stercoraria. Wasps were common as most places with Carder bees active in the few flowers that were out.

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Bees and Wasps on a Sandy Heath

The Beewolf Wasps come to the end of their season but there are abundant other Hymenoptera feeding, mating and nest building. I think the bandied mating bees are the Heather colletes, Colletes cunicularius, and the very pale bee may be its cuckoo bee, Epeolus cruciger . The other parasitic species, the Ruby-tailed wasp Chrysis ignita, were present in large numbers