Insect of the Day

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Nice shots Dave,
I find butterflies are so hard to photograph as they never stay still for long.

Thanks Kayleigh. There have been loads of Meadow Browns everywhere I go recently but they rarely settle at all and even when they do it's only for a second or two.

Found this little mirid bug on some stinging nettles today...



Love the green legs and the outsize antennae. It's only about 4mm long but the antennae are almost that much again!

Dave P.

[Deer Stalker]

My insects of the day are Scarce Blue-tailed Damselflies on the Forest this afternoon.

[wint]

My insect of the day is this recently emerged Southern Hawker which has moved round the leaf from its exuvia and flew off high into the trees not long after the photo.

[pressld2]

I sat myself in a reed bed for a couple of hours today, hoping for pics of bearded tit, reed bunting and/or reed warbler. Instead I got this five-spot burnet...



I'm happy with that result!

Dave P.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by pressld2

Thanks Kayleigh. There have been loads of Meadow Browns everywhere I go recently but they rarely settle at all and even when they do it's only for a second or two.

Found this little mirid bug on some stinging nettles today...



Love the green legs and the outsize antennae. It's only about 4mm long but the antennae are almost that much again!

Dave P.

Nice pics- your bugs are Heterotoma planicornis- fairly common on Nettles.

[mrs fish]

Originally Posted by pressld2

I sat myself in a reed bed for a couple of hours today, hoping for pics of bearded tit, reed bunting and/or reed warbler. Instead I got this five-spot burnet...



I'm happy with that result!

Dave P.

I like the Burnets but haven't seen any this year let alone get a photo

[punk entomologist]

My insect of the day altho it is a day late has to be the fairy wasp that was in one of my sample traps, it is of the Myrmaridae family, fantastic and so small (being about the size of two grains of sand) they are parasatoids of other insects eggs and i had never seen one (other than books), it is fantastic from the unusual hairy paddle-shaped wings to the odd clubbed antena (which would lead me to it being a female) sorry there are no pictures as it was under the microscope and my pictures were all too blurry to do it justice,

altho this isnt the species i saw you get a good idea of what it looks like

Fairy Wasp, Anaphes iole (Mymaridae)

also here is some good info

Family MYMARIDAE

[aeshna5]

Having had an intense week on a jury case + the forecast not brilliant I decided to do stuff around home- garden, some work on computer + a walk in the country park.

Not brimming with insects, though I was pleased to see my first 2 Gatekeepers of the year. Plenty of Small Whites + Meadow Browns as well as singletons of Speckled Wood, Large Skipper, Comma + Holly Blue.

It was windy + turned fairly overcast so I didn't have great expectations. Otherwise a couple of male Black-tailed Skimmers, a pair of Oedemera nobilis + a Rhagonycha fulva soldier beetle.

[Ian Gray]

mine has to be a High Brown Fritillary.




I was just out for a walk along the river Teign south Dartmoor, unaware that there is a colony of these here. When I first spotted them I had feeling they were Dark Greens, I was chuffed to discover later they were High Browns which I had never seen.

Ian

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Ian Gray

mine has to be a High Brown Fritillary.




I was just out for a walk along the river Teign south Dartmoor, unaware that there is a colony of these here. When I first spotted them I had feeling they were Dark Greens, I was chuffed to discover later they were High Browns which I had never seen.

Ian

Lovely photo- a butterfly I've seen several times overseas, but not in UK. I believe areas of Dartmoor + Cumbria are the main localities for it. You live in a smashing area!

[zail]

My insects of the day were these two mating blue tailed damselflies covered in rain drops



and my first sighting of a four spotted chaser!



both at Priddy Mineries on the Mendips

[Ian Gray]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

Lovely photo- a butterfly I've seen several times overseas, but not in UK. I believe areas of Dartmoor + Cumbria are the main localities for it. You live in a smashing area!

thanks for the kind comment. I think I should of labeled this as "Insect of my holiday" which unfortunatly I returned from on saturday, but your right it is a smashing area.

Ian

[naturegirl]

Cracking photo Dave!! Well done you !!!!!

Were those reed beds on Romney Marsh by any chance? I saw Bearded tits there a couple of years ago, delightful things!!

I saw a Hoopoe at Dungeness about the same time too, lucky me!!

Naturegirl

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by naturegirl

Cracking photo Dave!! Well done you !!!!!

Were those reed beds on Romney Marsh by any chance?

Thank-you!

Not Romney, other side of Kent at Oare Marshes. It's a great place for reedbed birds and waders. And insects too of course!



Dave P.

[mrs fish]

Insect of the day yesterday was a Emperor Dragonfly, it was school sports day and he/she was going up and down the field like it was in the races

It was in the blue team

[GuyF]

Today I saw my first Essex Skipper of the year and because of the dull weather it allowed me to get lots of shots of it showing the main id features that can be used to distinguish it from the Small Skipper.

The most important feature are the antennae, the Essex Skipper has completely black antennae tips whereas the Small Skipper has brown or orange markings on the underside of the tip. Here are a couple of shots, the first showing the black tips of the Essex Skipper, the second showing the orange of the Small Skipper.



Another feature, although not as reliable, is that the male Essex Skipper has a much less pronounced black scent scale marking on the forewing than the Small Skipper, here are a couple of shots demonstrating this feature, the first is the Essex Skipper, the second a Small Skipper.



Insect of the day though was probably this beautiful female Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Others nice insects were Marbled Whites, my first Gatekeepers of the year, Long-winged Coneheads and a buzzing Roesel's Bush-cricket.

Guy

[aeshna5]

Yesterday i was leading an insect walk at Bookham Common, Surrey. The previous evening had been very wet + the day loomed fairly cool + mainly cloudy. Initially few insects to be seen but soon a colony of Dark Bush-crickets where found + the odd Speckled BC swept up.

A while before any butterflies were seen, but then small numbers of Meadow Brown + Ringlet. At lunch by the hut the sun came out, so afterwards we headed for the "master tree" + after a few nervous minutes a male Purple Emperor deigned us with his presence, doing a few brief circuits between 2 Oaks, but most of the time was spent perching on a particular twig at the top, which gave good views through bins. About 3 Purple Hairstreaks were also near the tops of these trees.

After a satisfactory 30 minutes watching this stunner we walked back through a glade + on 1 particular large bramble we watched + photographed 8 Silver-washed Fritillaries + 4 White Admirals.

As we left the common rain started to fall, but other butterflies we also recored in ones + twos were Gatekeeper, Speckled Wood, Large + GV Whites, Red Admiral + Comma.

[agrumpycow]

I've just spent the morning volunteering with a work party on my local nature reserve and one of the jobs was pulling ragwort and creeping thistle from a meadow.
One of the benefits for me was the enormous amount of butterflies so close I wished I'd had my camera because I'd have got some cracking shots.
Anyway, the list I could identify (although there were much more that I couldn't) include

comma
silver washed fritilliary
green veined white
large white
small white
Small Skipper
Ringlet
Marbled White
Gatekeeper
Meadow Brown
Brown Argus

One of the other volunteers also accidentally disturbed a hornets nest but I didn't stick around long enough to have a look!

[aeshna5]

Thought today I'd stay in my parish + a lovely sunny day + in the morning we went to Horsenden Hill at the back end of Ealing + butterflies were abundant with dozens of Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers + Small (also at least 1 each of Essex + Large) Skippers. Highlights though here were 2 White-letter + 5 Purple Hairstreaks + 3 Marbled Whites ( a fairly recent colonist locally).

Walking under an underpass below the A40 there was a pristine Lime Hawkmoth below a lamp + a Marbled Beauty.

After lunch we walked to the country park + saw a few vanessids (Small Tortoiseshell, Comma + Red Admiral) as well as some of the commoner species listed above. What fascinated me was a male Holly Blue which came down on to a bird dropping on the sandy track + imbibing from this!

A Common Darter emerging from a ditch was fascinating to watch + a couple more tenerals present. On some new ponds we found exuvae of an Emperor ( acouple hunting over meadows) + a couple of Black-tailed Skimmers.

[Stewy]

Had a lovely Magpie moth out the back of the house last night.

[aeshna5]

My highlight today was a Volucella zonaria hoverfly which landed on my arm + was able to show to a colleague.

A couple of Southern Oak Bush-crickets were a bonus too!

[pressld2]

Had a forest bug on the front bumper of my car when leaving work this evening. As I was planning on going through a car wash on the way home I carefully returned him to the vegetation. Shame I didn't have anything to put him in to take home for some photos as I've only photographed the nymph of this species so far.

Dave P.

[tigger]

Velvet Ant Mutilla europaea - a wingless female wasp