29 Monday Jun 2020
Posted in insects, nature, wildflowers
Tags
beetle, British beetles, Rutpela maculata, Spotted longhorn beetle, umbellifer flowers, umbellifers
This Spotted longhorn (Rutpela maculata) was happily minding its own business, feeding on the umbellifer flowers growing along the edge of a woodland ride, as is its wont, when …
Incoming!
And so the necessity of life as a beetle takes over, the need to reproduce, to continue the species. Lunch might have to wait.
29 Saturday Jul 2017
All of a sudden I’m seeing Lacewings everywhere I look. Flying from May through to August, they’re usually creatures of the night, and they’re very partial to a fat juicy aphid (which is why gardeners love them and encourage them in to their gardens) but, just in the last couple of days, I’ve been seeing them during my day-time walks, often sitting on umbellifer flower heads, apparently drinking nectar.
There are 14 species of green Lacewings in Britain so I’m not sure which these are but, with their delicate green bodies, bright metallic eyes and gossamer-thin wings, they are simply exquisite.
