Insect Of The Day

[CapAndBracket]

Female oak eggar moth, just emerged from cocoon and starting to inflate wings. (a bit early but hooefully she will find a mate).

Cheers J.P.

[2dogs2000]

Mine has to be my very first Bee fly.

[CapAndBracket]

An hour later and nearly ready to fly, i have put her outside to hopefully attract a mate and back to the wild.

Cheers J.P.

[mrs fish]

My daughter found this dear little Click Beetle yesterday

Pyrochroa serraiticornis



A 2-spot Ladybird visited the garden

[aeshna5]

Went to Brentmoor Heath yesterday where despite the wind a fair range of insects were seen. Green Hairstreak was top butterfly + Common Heath + Common White Wave moths were seen. Broad-bodied Chaser was the only odonate surprisingly.

Amongst the Hymenoptera was a kleptoparasitic Sphecodes sp bee , the shiny black ant , Lasius fuliginosa, the rare slave making ant, Formica sanguinea as well as large colonies of F. rufa.

Associated with the latter was the Scarce 7-spot Ladybird + other coccinellids seen were Striped, Pine, couple of Cream-spotted + a single melanic Harlequin Ladybird.

Other beetles of note were the "Bird-dropping" Weevil, Platystomus albimanus, the longhorn Anaglyptus mysticus, Garden Chafers + the attractive fungus feeding tenebrionid, Diaperus boleti.

I'm sure if it had been less windy + sunnier I'm sure we'd have seen even more. A great day out!

[GuyF]

I had a very nice day out on chalk downland in Dorset yesterday, it was very windy but there were still hundreds of butterflies active.
The highlight was seeing my first british Adonis Blues which were abundant, and also seeing plenty of Small Blues. Other species included Marsh Fritillary, Green Hairstreak, Dingy and Grizzled Skippers, Brown Argus, Common Blue and Small Heath. I didn't see any Duke of Burgundys which is what I was really after, but I still can't complain about the butterflies that I did see!
Here's an Adonis Blue

And a Small Blue


Guy

[NickCantle]

They're lovely Guy Glad you had a good day mate

[pressld2]

Great day for insects today down at the RSPB open day at Cliffe Pools. Wild Woman was there (and Wild Man) running the insect sweep and helping to identify what we all caught.

I got a few nice photos which I'll post in a seperate thread when I've had a chance to go through them, but my insect of the day was a cinnabar moth. It wouldn't sit still for a photo but I forgive it!

Dave P.

[GuyF]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

They're lovely Guy Glad you had a good day mate

Cheers Nick, the colour of the male Adonis Blues is incredible, they really stand out from their surroundings!
Guy

[aeshna5]

It was a very soggy morning in London yesterday morning (as it is again now!) so not good for insects, but it was drier in the afternoon, so having dipped out on a trip to Thursley, had a stroll round our local country park, where there was a pair of copulating 14-spot Ladybirds rocking + rolling on a bramble leaf!

A Speckled Wood put in a brief flight in front of us + some nice views of Bombus pratorum.