Bees 'n' Bugs 'n' Stuff at Alner's Gorse

Following Cin posting about her transect walk showing an improving number of butterflies, I was inspired to take a meander around Alner's Gorse. I left the big birding lens at home and went with just the 70-200mm... closer minimum focus distance means less blades of grass to get in the way lol. I was out quite early, so there was still a chill in the air and I wasn't expecting to see too much.

I'm worse at ID-ing insects than I am at birds, so a lot of pics are just numbered:

Bee 1

Bee 2

Fly (probably!) 1

Bee 3

Fly 2

I was curious as to what this was, so interwebbed it, and apparently it is caused by a mite and is called Lime Nail Gall. I only saw it on a couple of trees, but on those trees it was quite widespread.

Female Beautiful Demoiselle...absolutely stunning in the sunlight

Bee 4

Bee 5

Bee 6

Fly 3

Teeny Tiny Spider ( and that is the official name, by the way )

Large Red Damsel

I think "large" is a bit of a misnomer!!

Yellow Dung Fly... 1st time I've seen one not near dung!

Slightly tatty Painted Lady

Brimstone

Grizzled Skipper... smaller than I remember and not looking particularly grizzled either! (I actually thought it was a small moth 'til I got home and got my trusty book out!)

Lollipop with food

Burnet Companion Moth

I've started feeing guilty about doing numbers, not names... one of the Sawflys

Probable Whitespot Longhorn

Marsh Crane Fly

White Legged Damsel

Dark-form Variable Damsel

White Legged Damsel

Azure Damsel

My first Broad Bodied Chaser

Brimstone

Holly Blue, nowhere near any holly!

One of the Robber Flies

Speckled Wood

And finally.... wait for it.... after last year's dearth........... Orange Tip... Yaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy

Thanks for perusing, hope you enjoyed. Unfortunately no Marsh Fritillaries, but I was out fairly early.

Stay Safe All