It was a nice warm and largely sunny June day and after a fairly quiet Kids Birdwatching Club (great Hobby!) we headed back out for the Insect Afternoon amble. Plenty to see in the warm sunny spots out of the wind with quite a few hoverflies and other flies to sift through while young Dark Bush Crickets were everywhere and the first micro Coneheads were pinging around.
Episyrphus balteatus - The Marmalade... a very common hover
A big fat Bluebottle...
Tabanus autumnalis - a Horse Fly and as this is a male I was happy to get as close as I could!
Red-headed Cardinal - Pyrochroa serraticornis.... looks like plush orange velvet!
and we always find something new... A Rufous Shouldered Longhorn Beetle, (Anaglyptus mysticus)
In the Butts Hide we discovered a Cream Spot Tiger trying to get out so after a photo session we realeased it in a flash of red and cream...
Let me out! CSTiger on an escape mission.....
We saw several Lackey Moth caterpillars on the river wall and Ton found a Small Tortoiseshell cat while the nettles were full on Peacock offspring munching merrily.
Lackey Moth Cat
Spiky Peacocks...
So all in all not to bad a little walk! Lets hope the sun keep shining tomorrow for some more quality grubbing - oh and our mini-fayre!
6-6-15