Category Archives: insects

An exuberance of Marbled whites

08 Tuesday Jul 2025

Posted by in insects, walks

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

The first full day of last week’s mini break, based in Cheltenham, was forecast to be the hottest day of the year so far so, rather than catch a train to one of the nearby locations I was planning to visit, I decided to stay in the Cheltenham area. I still ended up red-faced and sweaty after a six-hour eight-mile walk up and down and around Leckhampton Hill and Charlton Kings Common but what a fabulous day it was! As well as 13 other species of butterfly, I saw more Marbled whites than I’ve ever seen in my life before. I stopped counting at 50; they were everywhere, especially on the Knapweed flowers, which seemed to be their favourite nectar source.

As I didn’t take many landscape photos during this walk, I’ve included in my little slide show a few images from the last time I walked this way, in early June 2023, just to show you something of this beautiful place. You can see how much browner everything is this year after all our hot weather and with little rain to water the plants. It was a magical day!

Leafhopper: Issus coleoptratus

07 Monday Jul 2025

Posted by in insects

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

A couple of months ago I blogged about a couple of leafhopper nymphs I’d found on the local park railings (Leafhopper: Issus species, 5 May). At the time I was fairly certain these were Issus coleoptratus, and I explained why I’d reached that conclusion but, when I recorded my finds, the national recorder redetermined my records to Issus species.

I’m feeling just a little smug that my earlier conclusion has been vindicated by the fact that I’ve now found an adult Issus coleoptratus just along the railings from where I found the nymphs, and its identity has been verified by the national recorder. Of course, the little leafhopper wanted to run away when I got close to photograph it but then, when I put my hand against the railings to stop it scooting down the other side, rather than hopping away as they usually do, it crawled on to said hand and was very tickly as it wandered around on my skin. It was a delightful encounter with a very handsome little bug.

The Gatekeeper and the Painted lady

04 Friday Jul 2025

Posted by in insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

During the three days from to 25 to 28 June I saw six new species of butterfly: Gatekeeper, White-letter hairstreak, Essex skipper, White admiral, Silver-washed fritillary and Painted lady. Seeing so many in such a short time was an amazing experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent watching each and every one of them.

Disappointingly, the only ones I can show you reasonable images of are the Gatekeeper (above) and the Painted lady (below).

The other species were either flitting around high in the tree tops (White-letter hairstreak), paused for the briefest of moments on some flowers before disappearing in to the farm field behind (Essex skipper), weren’t stopping for a moment in their endless quest for a female (a Silver-washed fritillary exits stage left), or weren’t stopping at all ever (not even a blurry photo of the two White admirals I saw).

Mayfly: Ephemera danica

03 Thursday Jul 2025

Posted by in insects

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

There is sadness here on the blog today for the subjects of my photos are male mayflies that have almost certainly retreated from the river where they have just mated with as many females as possible, to die amongst vegetation or, in the case below, clinging to a fence panel.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with the mayfly’s life cycle: after spending between two weeks and two years as larvae beneath the water, on the day of hatching the males fly up to dance, often in huge swarms, above the water’s surface. The female mayflies fly up in to the swarm to mate, in flight, after which they fall to the water to lay their eggs, numbering in the hundreds, if not thousands, before, probably, becoming the meal of a waiting fish or canny bird. Sometimes the males seek shelter for a time before rejoining the swarm but it’s more likely that they simply find a place to perch and die.

From the distinctive markings on their abdomens and wings, I think these particular mayflies are the species Ephemera vulgata. It is the pair of earwig-like pincers near their tails that indicate these are both males.

***EDIT November 2025. As you can see from my previous paragraph, I initially identified these mayflies as Ephemera vulgata but I have just had notification that my records have been redetermined to species Ephemera danica.

Urophora stylata gall flies

02 Wednesday Jul 2025

Posted by in insects, plants

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

I was having a mooch around an area of rough ground on the edge of some local recreation grounds when I spotted a healthy and robust-looking Spear thistle, so wandered over for a closer look as thistles often provide a home for interesting insects. And I was in luck for there, on top of the first flower I peered at, was this handsome little gall fly, Urophora stylata.

This was my first sighting of this species but, fortunately for me, the Urophora gall flies have quite distinctive patterns on their wings and they each have a preference for a particular species of thistle. Unfortunately for some of you, this gall fly is mostly seen in southern Britain but, according to my internet research (see, for example, this guide from the Montana State Government), it is also present in parts of North America, where it was introduced as a biological control for the Spear thistle, which has been classified as an invasive species in some locations.

After mating, as per my voyeuristic photo above, the female fly lays her eggs, as shown below, after inserting her sturdy ovipositor into the flower heads of the Spear thistle (Cirsium vulgare). The actions of the subsequent larvae cause woody galls to grow within the flower head. The Naturespot website says that these galls are not obvious to the naked eye but ‘can be felt as hard lumps by squeezing dead flower heads’. How to explain that to a passing stranger who politely asks what you’re doing?

Ruby-tailed wasp

01 Tuesday Jul 2025

Posted by in insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

This gorgeous creature, clad in glimmering metallic colours of blue and green and red, is one of the Ruby-tailed wasps, the Chrysididae, and that’s as close to a definitive identification as I can come. According to an article I found on the BWARS (Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society) website, there are currently 38 species of Chrysid wasps in the British Isles and Channel Islands. Seven of those 38 species are shown on the Naturespot website, and they all look remarkably similar to my eye so I’m not even going to try to put an exact name to the one shown here. And, to be honest, I’m just incredibly pleased that this tiny wasp didn’t immediately fly away as I approached but, instead, allowed me to get reasonably good photos to share with you.

Now, just to be clear, though they look stunning, the Ruby-tailed wasps are almost all parasitic in nature. Some parasitise the eggs and larvae of other invertebrates, including other wasp species and bees; others are kleptoparasites, stealing the food other solitary wasps leave in their nests for their own larvae. Beauty and the beast encased in one tiny but beautiful bundle.

Depressaria daucella larvae

30 Monday Jun 2025

Posted by in insects, plants, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

All parts of Hemlock water-dropwort (Oenanthe crocata) are highly poisonous; from the roots to the leaves, no part of it should be ingested, and the Royal Horticultural Society even recommends wearing gloves to handle the plant. Yet, somewhat surprisingly, when I was wandering around the RSPB Radipole Lakes reserve, where Hemlock water-dropwort is abundant, I found a huge number of these small caterpillars happily munching away on its stems and flowers.

These very attractive creatures are the larvae of the moth Depressaria daucella, common name Water-dropwort brown. They can be seen, on this and a few other species of plants, in the months of June and July, either out in the open when eating or resting within a loosely woven silken spinning.

The UK Moths website rather flatteringly says that the adult moth is a ‘fairly distinctive species with its chestnut-brown ground colour and darker streaking’; all I see is yet another little brown job, rather drab when compared to its caterpillars.

Bug: Deraeocoris flavilinea

28 Saturday Jun 2025

Posted by in insects

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

How bugs are able to colonise places as rapidly as many seem to do always surprises me, and this new-to-me Mirid bug is one of those. Deraeocoris flavilinea was first reported in the UK in 1996.

In the interim 29 years between then and now it has made itself at home across most of the southern and central parts of Britain. Perhaps the fact that this bug’s larvae feed on Field maple and Sycamore, both very common tree species, has helped with its rapid colonisation efforts.

I saw my first, the nymph shown above, on 12 May and, at the end of May, saw my first adult. Since then, I’ve seen several more, even had one walking sedately up my arm, down again and on to my hand, which allowed for a nice close up as my final photo shows.

Bug: Kleidocerys resedae 

27 Friday Jun 2025

Posted by in insects

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

As I think I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve been fortunate to find several new bugs and beetles this year. This is one of those, now seen twice one month apart. Let me introduce you to the Birch catkin bug (Kleidocerys resedae), a member of the Lygaediae, the seed bugs that live in, on and around the seeds of various plants. In this case, as you can tell from the name, Kleidocerys resedae can be found on Birch trees (Betula species), the nymphs in particular munching on the catkins.

These are attractive little bugs, generally red-brown in colour, with some paler markings and transparent wings. There is a darker form Kleidocerys resedae f. privignus, which can be found around Alder trees, and I wonder if the bug shown below might be one of those. I actually spotted it on scrub underneath some trees, one of which was an Alder.

Birch catkin bugs can be found throughout Britain, as well as in North America and Europe, and you might be lucky enough to see them at any time of year, as they overwinter as adults (though they are thought to hibernate in colder climates).

Large whites and parasitism, part 2

24 Tuesday Jun 2025

Posted by in insects

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

A week after my sighting of Large white butterfly larvae that had been parasitised by wasps (see yesterday’s blog post) I returned to the same location to see what might have changed during that time and was surprised to see six pupae, beautiful sculptural objects whose markings varied depending on how long it was since they had pupated. These can’t have been the parasitised larvae I don’t think, so there must have been a large number of larvae munching unnoticed in the grassy area below the signage they were on.

This time, as well as these pupae, a few parasitised larvae and a few caterpillars that looked normal but may still have had wasp larvae in their bodies, there was a new species of parasitic wasp in residence. They looked completely different to the wasp I’d seen the previous week and, rather than the larvae, these tiny wasps were all congregating around the Large white pupae.

As usual, I took a lot of photos and, when I got home, set about researching the possibilities. This time, my guide book offered no assistance but googling produced one probable answer. There exists a wasp that is actually named the White butterfly pupal parasitoid wasp, scientific name Pteromalus puparum, which seems the likely culprit, though this hasn’t yet been confirmed by any experts. I’m intending to revisit the site to see what’s happened while I’ve been away on my little holiday.