Category Archives: insects

The big four

23 Tuesday Aug 2022

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These are the big beasties of the hoverfly world, the bumblebee, wasp and hornet mimics. Though their size can be a little intimidating, they are all completely harmless to humans, and wonderful to watch going about their daily lives. There are actually five Volucella species in Britain – the woodland species Volucella inflata does occur locally (see A new hoverfly, June 2020) but I’ve not noticed one this year. The big four below are Volucella bombylans, Volucella pellucens (commonly known as the Great pied hoverfly, due to its colouring), Volucella inanis and Volucella zonaria – these are the two mostly easily confused with each other but the most obvious difference is the chestnut colouring of V. zonaria‘s thorax.

220823 volucella hoverflies

Insects on Fleabane

21 Sunday Aug 2022

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Fleabane is a godsend. It starts to flower in mid summer and carries on flowering through to early autumn, providing a much-needed food source for a diverse range of insects at a time when many other wildflowers are beginning to wilt and wither. I’ve been accumulating the photos in this video for several weeks, and many of the featured insects have themselves now faded away, victims of the passing of time and also of the sizzling hot temperatures we’ve been experiencing. I’m sure those insects that have managed to survive the hot dry weather have been very grateful for the sustenance Fleabane has provided.

Shaded broad-bar

19 Friday Aug 2022

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Apart from Five- and Six-spotted burnets and the various grass moths that flit up as I walk along pathways through meadows, I’ve not seen many day-flying moths recently so these Shaded broad-bars (Scotopteryx chenopodiata) were a nice surprise. They fly during July and August, and can be found throughout Britain, particularly in areas where vetches and clovers – their larval food plants – grow. As you can see, the colours of these moths can be quite variable (the Butterfly Conservation website has more examples).

220819 shaded broad-bar

Three days in a row

15 Monday Aug 2022

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I couldn’t believe my luck (and wondered whether I should’ve bought a lottery ticket) but, after the first lucky day (Brown argus) and a second lucky day (the Silver-washed fritillary), the very next day my luck was in again. I’d seen Clouded yellow butterflies already in 2022 (one on 16 June; two – probably the first one and a friend – on 17 June; one – probably one of the previous two – on 20 June; all in the same general area) but hadn’t been able to get any reasonable photos. With the new camera, and a slightly more co-operative subject – it stopped a few times to feed, this time I managed to fire off several quick shots. This is the best of them.

220815 clouded yellow

p.s. I wrote this blog a few days ago and, since then, we’ve had an amazing influx of Clouded yellows, with five noted yesterday at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, so here’s another of these beauties.

220815 clouded yellow (2)

Second lucky day

12 Friday Aug 2022

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My first lucky day happened when I took the new camera for its first outing, and not only produced the Robin photo I posted yesterday but also the Brown argus I blogged about on Wednesday. The very next day I was, if anything, even more lucky, as I found this superb, if rather faded Silver-washed fritillary in a local woodland. Long time followers might remember I found a male Silver-washed frit (A golden surprise) last July, which was in the same woodland. This latest butterfly was quite a distance from last year’s find spot but that may just be because the scarcity of food sources had forced it to fly a little further than usual. This year’s butterfly is a female so I’m hoping she had found/can find a male and laid/will lay some eggs.

220812 silver-washed fritillary

Finally, Brown argus

10 Wednesday Aug 2022

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The Brown argus butterfly (Aricia agestis) usually has two broods each year, the first adults flying during May and June, the second brood appearing in late July and fading away in late September. Somehow, I missed the first brood this year so, for the last couple of weeks, I’ve been systematically checking the spots of every female Common blue (at a glance, they look quite similar to Brown argus – see my July 2018 blog Flying on the wings of confusion for tips on how to differentiate the two species). Finally, last Friday, this beautiful Brown argus flitted into my field of vision. I didn’t quite do a happy dance but there was a not-too-loud ‘Whoop’!

220810 brown argus

Parasitic wasps on Teasel

04 Thursday Aug 2022

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A year ago I wrote about the moth larvae I’d found living inside Teasel seed heads (Inside a Teasel seed head, July 2021). This year, during my recent walks, I’ve noticed small parasitic wasps on many of the flowering Teasels I’ve seen. I haven’t been able to identify these wasps but it occurs to me that they may have been seeking that same species of larvae I saw last year, prodding and poking with those fierce-looking ovipositors until they found a soft body in which to lay their eggs.

220804 parasitic wasp on teasel

A hawking migrant

03 Wednesday Aug 2022

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The latest dragonfly species for 2022 to blip on my inexpert odonata radar is this Migrant hawker (Aeshna mixta) that was lurking amongst the brambles along a local footpath. I disturbed it with my blundering and it flew off, hawking a few insects as it wove this way and that. Fortunately, after a couple of minutes, the hawker returned to its perch, and I was able to get a closer look and a few photos.

220803 migrant hawker

Stenodema laevigata

01 Monday Aug 2022

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I cannot tell a lie – I didn’t find this bug, it found me. As I was wandering around a local field, I glimpsed something flit up from the flowers and looked down to find it sitting on my t-shirt. Very obligingly, it waited until I got my camera out of my pocket and was then persuaded to climb on to my hand for some photos. Meet Stenodema laevigata, another of the Miridae family of plant bugs. This species is much more common and widespread, with over 3000 records currently showing on the NBN Atlas webpage, or perhaps it’s more often recorded because its slim shape and singular markings make it easier to identify.

220801 Stenodema laevigata

Adelphocoris lineolatus

30 Saturday Jul 2022

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At last a bug with a common name – Adelphocoris lineolatus is also known as the Lucerne bug, though it actually favours quite a wide variety of food plants and, as you can see, I found it sitting on Common fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica). This species is a little trickier to identify but its combination of paired lines and double spots helped me nail it down. As with yesterday’s mirid bug, records for this species are scattered and mostly to be found in southern Britain, though some adventurous individuals have been recorded in Scotland. (I have not identified the smaller bug in this picture – my photo didn’t show enough details and I suspect it might have fallen into the ‘too hard’ basket anyway.)

220730 Adelphocoris lineolatus