This is the carry on thread from "All about Insects 2018" here https://community.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/f/all-creatures/196071/all-about-insects-2018
I had a lovely Minotaur Beetle around the UV trap this morning, my first ever!
Apparantly this is their time of year!
All insects, spiders, beetles, flies etc etc welcome,
Don't look, Wendy!
I just had this pop up in the living room.
It is GINORMOUS!! The biggest house spider I have EVER seen.
I actually measured the gap in the cardboard box lid that it is standing on and factored it up - 9cm (3.5") front to back across the legs. It must have opened the back door just to get in!
Someone asked for a bumble bee head shot. Here's a very dopey Common Carder caught out in the chill morning which allowed me to get really close.
Sorry, Gaynor, it's not actually standing on my finger as requested, but I didn't want to wake it up in case it got out of the wrong side of the bed!
The fine warm weather has brought insects out in abundance today. There was a big hatch of Mayflies from the River Loddon and you could see gulls catching them in mid air. I was after dragonflies today, which I will post on the appropriate thread, but I did manage to snap this smart Cardinal Beetle.
While I was out on Saturday, I was looking at a Hawthorn tree absolutely covered in blossom that I know is a spot Ruddy Darters like to take the sun. There weren't any Dragons but I did see lots of bees and I thought, what would I see if I just stood and watched for 15-20 minutes. I must admit I got carried away and ended up there for an hour, but the results were quite impressive for the variety ...
My first Dagger fly (Empididae)
There were a few of what I thought were little wasps hunting, that rarely landed. This is the best photo I managed. It has the narrow wasp waist but odd eyes. I actually found out it is a cuckoo bee (Nomada sp.) that just looks like a wasp, although why a bee would want to mimic a wasp is a bit bizarre! Never seen (or at least recognised) one of those before.
Next to arrive was a Click Beetle (Elateridae)
Oh, that posted before I had finished! I'll continue ...
I had been attracted by bees initially and finally caught a Tree Bumblebee (Bombus Hypnorum)
There weren't that many hoverfies, but this was a new one for me,
I think it is Eupeodes Luniger
One of the first macro photos of an insect I took was an Ashy Mining Bee and I've never seen another since! So I was quite pleased when one of these distinctive black and white bees landed right in front of me.
It was quickly followed by another mining bee, a Tawny one
Other than at the tree, I also spotted a few ladybirds: one of the varieties of Harlequin.
And another new one for me, a Cream Spot Ladybird on a nettle
And finally a Shieldbug. I think this is a Birch Shieldbug (although the Hawthorn is similar so I may be wrong)
I'd say that wasn't a bad haul for just standing in front of a Hawthorn in blossom for a bit and waiting to see what turned up. I recommend it!!