All about Insects 2019

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,

  • What can I safely feed hedgehogs?

    Hi, I think you must be new on here. Welcome to the mad-house. You may get more responses if you start a new thread with your question in the title. It's not easy to find your way around, but worth it in the end!
    I'm afraid I can't answer your question, I've never fed a hedgehog.
  • Nigel, your insect haul is amazing. Such a huge variety & great pics too. Our pyracantha is covered in blooms, which may mean a hard winter next year, we shall have to wait & see.
  • Thanks Hazel. I barely had to move, everything just landed in front of me. There might have been more going on behind the tree but I was being kept too busy to look! I'm not going to consider winter just yet, no matter what your pyracantha says!
  • What a selection of insects Nigel, I have noticed the Hawthorn in full bloom too, and you certainly spent a well earned hour with your camera. I will have to keep this thread just in case I see any of the insects you have so thoughtfully named for us:-) I like the bees, took a photo this morning of one feeding from a Welsh poppy, not black and white though!!!
  • Thanks Gaynor

    I think these little critters are always worth a second look. Jumping spiders (Salticidae) have amazing eyesight for such little things and watch with interest while you take their photo!

  • A pair of busy Pondskaters

    I first thought this was a small Grasshopper that leapt into the pond to avoid me and then swam back. In fact, it is a smaller cousin, a Slender Groundhopper.

    And it took me ages to find out what this is. I had assumed it was a beetle, but it wasn't, so I thought maybe a fly as it doesn't have antennae, but no, it's a bug … the last place I looked :( You'd've thought I would have got it sooner with the obvious name of Red-and-black Froghopper. I first saw one and then found dozens of them.

  • Your jumping spider is very cute and seems to have blue eyes? the Froghopper is like a Shield bug, very striking.
  • Here is the bee I took the other day on the Welsh Poppies

    The picture is pretty bad I know but are those the pollen satchels on each side of the bee?

    Gaynor

  • I think most people (including me) would struggle getting a bee in-flight, so no need to apologise for that. Normally if you see a bee with 'odd' coloured, bulky legs then it is because of the pollen they have collected, so I'd say 'yes'.
    I think Jumping Spiders are one of the few spiders you could legitimately call cute! I used to see ones with big bright white palps and it looked like they were waving at you while wearing boxing gloves!
  • Thanks Nigel, it is unusual for me to have camera in hand for an action photo like that!! Today for instance I cursed myself for not carrying one as I saw a Stonechat male with two young, would have been a lovely clear photo - typical.
    I am not averse to spiders and was the one person in the household that would pick up and put out by hand, but I am sure you get more wary as you get older, or that is my excuse for a pot with a lid to do the job these days:-)