Tag Archives: British insects

46/366 Sunbathing

15 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by in nature, winter, insects

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Obviously, these photos were not taken today, as Storm Dennis is currently blasting the British Isles – though, in truth, here in south Wales we are not getting quite as much rain as I expected, nor are we being battered as severely as we were by the fiercely gusting winds that accompanied last weekend’s Storm Ciara, for which I am extremely grateful.

200215 common green shieldbug (1)

My photos of this Common green shieldbug (Palomena prasina) were taken a week ago, on a warm (for the time of year) sunny day. And, as I have just read in a tweet by SEWBReC, our local biodiversity records centre, that ‘Now is a good time of year to spot shieldbugs sunbathing on (rare!) sunny days’, I thought I would make this little sunbather my critter of the day.

200215 common green shieldbug (2)

323/365 Autumn critters

19 Tuesday Nov 2019

Posted by in autumn, insects, nature, plants

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It may be late autumn, with shortening days, chill winds and cooling nights but, when the sun comes out as it did yesterday, the insects also come out to warm themselves and feed. During my walk around Cosmeston I spotted a late Red admiral butterfly and then, further on, where ivy was still flowering, a host of flying mini-beasties: hoverflies, various bees and wasps. And, near them, tucked away further down on a bramble leaf, even a caterpillar, probably a moth larva though I’m not sure which species.

245/365 Bush-basking cricket

02 Monday Sep 2019

Posted by in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

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I’ve been back to the field where I saw Friday’s ‘grappling grasshoppers’ to investigate the other interesting insects I noticed. This is one of them, a gloriously ‘armoured’ Dark bush-cricket (Pholidoptera griseoaptera).

190901 dark bush-cricket (1)

According to the Buglife website, you ‘must creep up on them to see them properly’ but, luckily, I had my zoom lens, plus this creature was probably quite confident in its ability to out-leap me if necessary and was too happy basking in the sunshine to be bothered about me.

190901 dark bush-cricket (2)

242/365 Grappling grasshoppers

30 Friday Aug 2019

Posted by in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

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‘Aw, isn’t that sweet?’ I thought when I spotted this couple of Meadow grasshoppers today. ‘He’s got his arm around her.’

190830 Common green grasshopper (1)

Of course, there was a bit more going on than that and, as I watched, another part of his anatomy swung around her body to make contact with her vital parts. No wonder he’s got a glint in his eye!

190830 Common green grasshopper (2)

222/365 Black and gold

10 Saturday Aug 2019

Posted by in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

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This stunning creature might look like a bee but it’s actually a sawfly, a harmless creature that does not sting and is so-named because the female’s genitalia are capable of ‘sawing’, in vegetation, a hole in which she then lays her eggs.

190810 sawfly (1)

This particular sawfly may be Abia sericea, a sawfly whose larvae feed on scabious plants, particularly Devil’s-bit scabious, which is very abundant where I spotted this glistening creature.

218/365 Hopalong grasshopper

06 Tuesday Aug 2019

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I spotted this Common field grasshopper sitting on a gravestone in St Augustine’s churchyard yesterday. I see a huge number of grasshoppers and crickets but usually only as they’re hopping rapidly away from me. So, I was intrigued as to why this one didn’t jump away.

190806 common field grasshopper (1)

Looking closer, I noticed it had suffered some damage along its right side and had lost its large back leg on that side, so it was no longer able to leap. Luckily, it was still able to scuttle off into the grass – otherwise, it would have been a sitting target for a hungry bird, and that might well be how it got injured in the first place.

190806 common field grasshopper (2)

212/365 The pollinators

31 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by in 365DaysWildin2019, flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers

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190731 pollinators

It seems unbelievable to me that some people still think that bees – in particular, honey bees, which are essentially a farmed species – are the only insects that pollinate flowers. You have only to look at a particular type of flower – in this case, umbellifers – to see the wide range of insects that visit and feed on them. And each of these little creatures gets covered in pollen while feeding so, when they fly on to the next flower, they are automatically contributing to flower pollination.

123/365 A Bramble confection

03 Friday May 2019

Posted by in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature, spring

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Ingredients: 1 patch of Bramble, lashings of sunshine, a tablespoon of warmth, a dash of Springtime
Method: Stand and stare
Result: Nursery web spider, Dock bug, hoverfly (Syrphus sp.), Speckled wood butterfly, Green shieldbug, bee species, another hoverfly (Eristalis sp.), Harlequin ladybird, and wasp (Vespula sp.).

96/365 Gorse weevils and shieldbugs

06 Saturday Apr 2019

Posted by in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature, plants, spring

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I got some strange looks today when I was out walking – nothing unusual about that really. This time it was because I had my nose in a gorse bush looking for its special critters – and I found them. First, I was delighted to spot two tiny Gorse weevils (Exapion ulicis). I’ve only found them once before and these two led me a merry dance, in and around the gorse leaves, not wanting to have their photo taken. One disappeared but I managed to grab a couple of pics of the other.

190406 gorse weevil

The other critters were much easier, at least ten of them, probably many more, hiding in plain sight – that’s how well camouflaged they are. These Gorse shieldbugs (Piezodorus lituratus) were also camera shy and the gorse thorns made a few holes in my hands as I tried to pull the gorse this way and that to get some photos. But it was worth every speck of blood!