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
Update on Ladybirds ... had 23 out of 25 hatched & running around, put the pot next to the runner bean infested with blackfly & saw them having another feast!
Catch up here with some footage from 26th/27th June when it was a beautiful & warm sunny day & the garden was literally dripping with Bees, Hovers & all manner of beasties ...
This beastie which was in my last night's Moth trap but is not one ... I think it may be a member of Lacewing family
Spent most of it's time showing off it's 'six-pack' & green belly
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
It looks like a Caddis fly (Trichoptera)Wendy. You get allsorts in the moth traps!!
Great video,Wendy.Love your hovers. The green fly is a soldier fly - Chloromyia formosa aka the Broad Centurian. I gave up recording caddis flies(waiting for the kingfisher to come around!) a while ago but know this as - Limnephilus marmoratus.
Oooooh, interesting, thanks H ... wonder if there are any larvae in my pond all decorated with stones & leaves & stuff??
Well done Edge on identifying it, I give up on them usually! Great video Wendy BTW.
Thanks for ID H & EB ... I think I have found out what this little spid is ... fell off the Toadflax I was picking for my Moths
www.uksafari.com/combfooted.htm
Much smaller than 5p piece (forgot the perspective ... again!)
They are really lovely spiders & seem to take their colour from the flowers they are on. What colour is the toadflax? Blue?
Purple Toadflax H, the native variety, I have let it occur in spaces all over my garden as the Bees love it so & it blossoms earlier than their other love, Wall Germander which is another, paler, purple!
What other colour would Purple Toadflax be? Dohhh
Here's a few insects from a walk yesterday,
Sooty copper
Provencal Short-tailed blue
underside of a micro moth Endotricha flammealis
a Parasitic fly Ectophasia crassipennis
a Copper Demoiselle which we stopped off to visit on the way home, as you do,
& there was also a Beautiful demoiselle there too
There seem to be a lot less butterflies & insects in general this year, cold wet Spring?
Gorgeous pics of the butterflies. Never seen a Sooty Copper or that parasitic fly. Beautiful Demoiselles have always eluded me although plenty of Banded Demoiselles on my patch. Needs the right habitat I guess.
Hazel C said:There seem to be a lot less butterflies & insects in general this year, cold wet Spring?
Interesting you say that Hazel, I was just thinking the same. Although I've got quite a lot of bee friendly plants in flower there's a complete dearth of insects in the garden.
From the sublime to the ridiculously small
I went on the prowl in the garden looking for hoverflies but the only one I could find was this miniscule little fella (<5mm) on a flower of Giant Mullein (wild Verbascum). Not a very good photo I'm afraid.
Using my newly acquired hoverfly book, the best I could come up with is Syritta pipiens but I'm by no means confident. If you or Edge know better please correct me.
We had a rotten June but it seems to be warming up now so hoping for better things.
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream