Insect of the Day

mrs fish · #1 (**permalink**) 26-04-2008, 07:34 AM

I thought this was a good time of the year to start a "Insect of the Day" thread

I'm sure like me you would all like to share your sightings of the day

Yesterday was the first real day this year to see butterflies

I was pleased to see two little blues and a peacock

Two days on the trot I have seen 14 spot ladybirds and no harlequins

nightshade · #2 (**permalink**) 26-04-2008, 08:25 AM

Mine is a solitary Bee Fly which haunts the Forget me nots, too quick for a photo (too quick for me

) I captured a little on video

Toby · #3 (**permalink**) 26-04-2008, 09:18 AM

I was at work yesterday but managed to snap a Rove Beetle (c.9mm) on a wall:

mrs fish · #4 (**permalink**) 26-04-2008, 11:26 AM

I have just seen two Scarlet Lilly Beetles, look out lillies !!

Swirlything · #5 (**permalink**) 26-04-2008, 02:09 PM

I spotted a rather nice peacock butterfly yesterday morning

Wild-Woman · #6 (**permalink**) 26-04-2008, 02:53 PM

Ok-I'm showing off now!

Today we've seen-
Brimstone, male and female
Large White
Peacock
Red Admiral
Dingy Skipper
Grizzled Skipper

Bee-fly
Several mining bee species
Several bumble bee species

Scorpion Fly
2 species of Pyrausta moth

Several hoverfly species.

and a Common Wasp Queen.

Phew! Great stuff!

Geoff F · #7 (**permalink**) 26-04-2008, 07:36 PM

Seen in my garden (and photographed). First Speckled Wood butterfly this year; several Melanostomas flying around; a very small cricket type creature, mostly dark brown with a full length pale top stripe. I will search my books later but may have to return to this forum to ask for an ID.

aeshna5 · #8 (**permalink**) 26-04-2008, 08:49 PM

I've been to Fowlmere + Paxton Pits today + seen the following:

7 species butterfly:

Peacock
Comma
Green-veined White
Orange Tip
Brimstone (loads!)
Speckled Wood
Holly Blue

Also Large Red Damselfly, Dark Bush-cricket nymph, Tortoise Beetle, Cassida sp + 7-spot Ladybird.

oxycera · #9 (**permalink**) 26-04-2008, 08:56 PM

A local earth bank produced a male Priocnemis perturbator (Spider-hunting wasp). This enabled me to positively confirm the closely related but rarer P.susterai (2nd Yorks record) which I found at the same spot 2 years ago.
All my previous perturbator had been females. So, a great day!

Kayleigh · #10 (**permalink**) 26-04-2008, 10:50 PM

While watering some lupins in the greenhouse I saw lots of aphids

Then on closer inspection of the pots I saw sucked dry aphids on the bottom of the pot. Then looking even closer found a very tiny spider

you cant beat natural control..So mine is my tiny spider. Haven't a clue what it is and too small for my camera to get an id.

jennyb · #11 (**permalink**) 27-04-2008, 10:09 AM

Mrs Fish, you beat me to it. I was going to start this thread with a beautiful moth that was looking though my kitchen window.

I believe it is a Purple Thorn - Selenia tetralunaria - but I may be wrong. It is beautiful, whatever it is.

Jenny

Paul mabbott · #12 (**permalink**) 30-04-2008, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

While watering some lupins in the greenhouse I saw lots of aphids

Then on closer inspection of the pots I saw sucked dry aphids on the bottom of the pot. Then looking even closer found a very tiny spider

you cant beat natural control..So mine is my tiny spider. Haven't a clue what it is and too small for my camera to get an id.

Without the aphids you wouldn't get the spiders, bugs, ladybirds, lacewings &c so stick with it! Dried aphids ('mummies') can be sucked dry, ones dead of old age or ones from which parasitoids have emerged - it's a hard life being an aphid!

Malcolm Banks · #13 (**permalink**) 30-04-2008, 04:46 PM

Hello, I would be grateful for some help with my insect of the day. I have just built a wildlife pond in my garden and am enjoying watching the (mostly invertebrate) colonists arriving. I have observed a small fly with a thin black body (ca 2.5-3mm long) flat skimming rapidly very close over the surface, often appearing to “ski” on the surface, creating a small wake. They can be seen to pick up small fragments (could be v small insects) from the surface and then fly off for a while, so may be scavengers/predators. I should like to identify the fly but cannot find anything that matches the description in my few insect books or on the web. Would anyone be able to help with this please, either directly or via a link to an expert?
Thanks in advance, Malcolm, Surrey

Malcolm Banks

aeshna5 · #14 (**permalink**) 30-04-2008, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malcolm Banks

Hello, I would be grateful for some help with my insect of the day. I have just built a wildlife pond in my garden and am enjoying watching the (mostly invertebrate) colonists arriving. I have observed a small fly with a thin black body (ca 2.5-3mm long) flat skimming rapidly very close over the surface, often appearing to “ski” on the surface, creating a small wake. They can be seen to pick up small fragments (could be v small insects) from the surface and then fly off for a while, so may be scavengers/predators. I should like to identify the fly but cannot find anything that matches the description in my few insect books or on the web. Would anyone be able to help with this please, either directly or via a link to an expert?
Thanks in advance, Malcolm, Surrey

Malcolm Banks

Pond Skaters I think!

aeshna5 · #15 (**permalink**) 30-04-2008, 06:55 PM

It's been an incredibly soggy day in London today so no bugs noted but yesterday after the downpours we had some afternoon sun + on a Buddleja there were 3 pairs of copulating Common Green Shieldbugs + a couple of single ones. On adjacent foliage were several basking Harlequins.

Kayleigh · #16 (**permalink**) 30-04-2008, 08:24 PM

Mine was another damn lily beetle..On my beautiful lily's..I seem to be picking one off a day.

derekmc · #17 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 07:52 AM

Have just seen my first Orange-Tip of the spring - always a sight that cheers me up.

Derek

Kayleigh · #18 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 01:47 PM

I saw 4 orange tips and evicted a shield bug from the greenhouse

mrs fish · #19 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 07:23 PM

A large white in the distance when the sun popped out

nutmeg · #20 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 08:43 PM

Two pied shield bugs (Tritomegas bicolor) and some duck-billed hoverflies (Rhingia campestris), in the garden.

There were some butterflies and other insects too, but the ones above were new for the year.

aeshna5 · #21 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nutmeg

Two pied shield bugs (Tritomegas bicolor) and some duck-billed hoverflies (Rhingia campestris), in the garden.

There were some butterflies and other insects too, but the ones above were new for the year.

I've never seen that common name for Rhingia campestris before- certainly a distinctive species.

Geoff F · #22 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 10:12 PM

I will remember 'duck billed hoverfly' for future reference, very apt name. Photographed one last week. Today, nice and warm if you dodge the wind, there was a crab spider (Misumena vatia) in my garden with a hoverfly it had caught. Probably a Melanostoma, there are a lot around here.

It is amazing how these tiny spiders manage to catch prey that is larger than themselves.

Fourwings · #23 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 10:15 PM

Had my first Odonata sighting of 2008 this morning.
I found 3 teneral Large Red Damselflies at my local reserve and they were reasonably co-operative for the camera.
A good day and a sure sign that Summer is not that far away.

Laurence Clemons · #24 (**permalink**) 20-05-2008, 12:08 PM

At Coxett Wood near Faversham yesterday afternoon (19th May) I found a single female of Rhamphomyia marginata. Until last year this was only known from the band of woods running from Whitstable to Ashford in East Kent. According to the NBN gateway it has also turned up in Middlesex.