Shuttleworth Heritage Day

Today, the Shuttleworth held a Heritage Day with the House, Swiss Gardens and Museum open as well as flying in the afternoon (separate blog). There were lots of period costumes and the gardens, especially the grotto and Fernery looks as spendid as ever.

The Old Warden Estate was acquired by the Ongley family in the 18th and 19th Centuries and subsequently purchased in 1872 by Joseph Shuttleworth a Lincolnshire industrialist. His grandson, Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth, eventually inherited the estate but sadly died in 1940 following a flying accident whilst serving in the Royal Air Force.

Upon Richard’s death, his mother put the estate into a charitable trust for the purpose of promoting Richard’s interests in agriculture and aviation, establishing the Shuttleworth Collection and Shuttleworth College. The non-operational parts of the estate are let to provide funds to support the Collection and College.

Light and Shadow at Wicken Fen

As with most areas visited this year, the insects are definitely in short supply though there seem to be plenty of spiders so they must be eating something. Playing with light and shadow on a very sunny morning at Wicken. The last image is a Damsel Bug - a family of insects I haven't previously encountered with my macro.

Redgrave and Lopham Nature Reserve Suffolk II

A second batch of images from yesterday's visit - mainly to see if John agrees with the IDs. Short-winged Conehead, Field Grasshopper, Dock, Green and Spiked Shieldbugs, Kite-Tailed Robber fly, Flesh Flies mating, Cranefly, Big-Headed Flies (Pipunculidae), Fever flies and Frog!

Redgrave and Lopham Nature Reserve Suffolk I

A couple of posts from a CCC visit to this Suffolk NR. We were pleased to find a good variety of insects to photograph including Migrant Hawker mating, Common blue Damselfly, Emerald Damselfly, Ruddy Darter Male (reddish thorax and plain legs) and Common Darters mating and very confiding female (Brown thorax with yellow patches in female and yellow stripes on legs).

Also included a couple of Small Copper butterflies showing themselves off on thistledown

'Curiouser and curiouser' -Through the Lenses in Our Garden

First a Common Darter that has perished in the pond and is being consumed by all stages of Pond Skaters from very small juveniles to an unusual trio - the top one couldn't reach the prey so this did not last long.

The Leaf-cutter Bees have made holes in all our rose bushes and are busy stuffing their nest tubes with leaves.  They glue them together with saliva in order to build the 'cells'. Each cell contains a ball or loaf of stored pollen and a single egg. The larvae hatch and develop, pupating in autumn and hibernating over winter. 

Even more curious is this fly found when photographing a bee wrapped in a Garden Spider web. It belongs to the Milichiidae family (Jackal Flies). The adults of some species act as kleptoparasites, feeding on bodily fluids of the prey of various invertebrates including spiders. They penetrate the thinnest cuticle of a bee in a spider's web, extracting tissues that the enzymes in the venom of the spider have reduced to a fluid state. The "jackal" habit has been widely documented, with many pictures and references to Millichiidae assembling on the prey of spiders. However, they are fussy and most prey insects do not attract Milichiidae - they seem only to follow the scents exuded by killed prey such as Hemiptera, Heteroptera, and Hymenoptera.  It is suggested that their chosen 'host' hunt prey that release a dramatic and characteristic olfactory signal. In support of this, some species seem to operate in the dark, and photographs of approaching flies seem to show them flying upwind. I haven't found any information on how they avoid getting stuck to the web!!

Flying Bees and Friends at Barton

A few insects from an early visit to Barton. Honeybees were busy collecting different coloured pollen from flowers while Hoverflies and Common Blue butterflies were getting on the wing. Particularly liked the colours of the Geometrid caterpillar and the small Hemipteran bug.