Oh well, no sooner said than done. All you budding entomologists or photographers or anyone who likes nature, you can put your insect photos here!
I'll kick off with a few that I've had lately. This first is called a Mantis Fly & is a cross between a Fly & Mantis (funnily enough) & is in the Neuroptera family, which is a mixed bunch anyway, my first & I had 3 of them around the moth trap
& a Rhinocerus Beetle which was also attracted to the light & are quite rare now around here, he really was fabulous, very impressive,
& this Frelon was also in the moth trap, but seemed quite docile as long as I kept my distance!
& some Damsel flies, an Azure Damselfly (thanks for the ID Aiki)
a Large Red Damsel
& from early may a proper fly from the Dipteras, anyone know the English name, I think it's latin name is Otites lamed,
I usually only take photos of flies with interesting wings as I am hopeless at identiying them!
Thanks for looking & maybe you can post some of yours!!
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Glad to hear it doesn't go for caterpillars HinNH & it is quite welcome to the last knockings of my runners if it helps it to survive the Winter ... mine started late but not bad cropping so don't mind sharing with the odd but here & there!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
I was quite pleased with the raindrops bonus too aitch, always very fascinating to take pics of water!
Found a very interesting site for so many Shieldbugs varieties, supervimpressive & I want them ... www.eakringbirds.com/shieldbugs
On Nexus so can't do quick link!
Looks a great Web link Wendy so bookmarked it :) thanks.
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Regards, Hazel
This was originally posted in the Bad Pics thread but Wendy suggested I posted it here as well. I just do what I'm told. LOL
"Oh dear. This is a photo of a Red Admiral on stinging nettles which as you can see is completely over exposed. The sun's reflection off the bright green/ yellowish leaves completely fooled my camera. This has happened to me before and I'd normally stop the exposure down but this was the only shot I got before the butterfly flew away.
I'm a big fan of Adobe Lightroom for processing photos but I thought this was a lost cause. I nearly deleted it but I thought I'd give it a try.
CLICK on the photo to see what I got after quite a bit of fiddling about. Even I was surprised to retrieve an acceptable photo from a really bad one. Just shows what clever software can do."
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Thought you'd like to see this creation found on an East Devon Wildlife site this week. Another use for a bird box... An Awesome Hornets Nest.
Incredible structure, thanks for sharing DO!
what an amazing creation by the hornets but I'd be standing well clear of it as they swarm in or out lol great pic Devon.
I've seen Asian hornets nests that big never European Hornets. Ver impressive! We had one in a blue tits nest box one year but they never bothered us.
Thanks for the comments guys.....
Found this rather handsome looking creature in my porch earlier this evening
After the photo-shoot I decided to let it go ... it was extremely reluctant to leave the jam jar so I laid it on its side on the back steps by the Hydrangeas!
Took me an age to discover it is a Western Conifer Seed Bug which had apparently been attracted by the light & probably come into the warm to hibernate (see this site http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Coreidae/leptoglossus_occidentalis.html) ... back out to check jar & he was still tucked inside ... brought it in & tucked jar & bug at back of gardening shelf in porch!! As I said to it 'you can stay overwinter in my porch if you like!" ... I'm quite harmless really! ha ha