Insects on Ivy Flowers

The Ivy is just coming into flower and is obviously very attractive to all kinds of insect (and entomologists!) Here a selection of different flies, including many species of Hoverflies, and Ivy Bee, Honey Bee and Common Wasp

Nature Takes Over, Cambridge

 We took an early evening stroll round the University Sidgwick Site in Cambridge, which has not seen students now for over 18 months. The cobwebs, thistles and ivy are beginning to take over. The sun was just setting as we left throwing some lovely colours on the buildings

Local Spiders

This year is an exceptional one for wasp spiders (Argiope bruennichi) in our area but there were several more species during recent visits to Barton and Paxton including Araneus quadratus, the Garden spider (Araneus diadematus), Pardosa sp. and Tetragnatha striata

Insect Diversity Paxton Pits

 On Saturday, I helped in a survey of part of the Great Meadow at Paxton Pits and was surprised at the numbers and diversity of the invertebrate species recorded as well as the flora. The area had been flooded for several months over the last winter but is now fully drained except for a bit of water in the deepest ditches. Here are a few of the many insect species that I photographed (not shown to scale) - Braconid Wasp, Hairy Shieldbug, Chalcid Wasp, Ivy bee, Leaf Hopper, Bishop's Mitre Bug, Dasysyrphus tricunctus, Green Shieldbug, Crane Fly, house Fly, Leaf Beetles, Ground Beetle

Grantchester with Nicky

We spent an enjoyable morning with Nicky (Miles' sister) yesterday, exploring the church, having coffee in The Orchard Tearooms and walking by the river. She was staying in her camper van locally.

Favourite Local Walk

Yesterday, I decided on doing what has been my favourite walk for over 50 years from when I came to live in Toft. It involves no roads but does include hills - a relatively rare feature in Cambridgeshire. The first image is near the start and the furthest point is the top left edge of Hardwick Wood then round to Caldecote Church and back. The sunflowers in the set aside field are looking good this year and the willows along the brook show their silvery foliage in the overcast conditions.  All taken with HDR mode on X100V which produces a raw file for further processing