Speckled Wood

This and Red Admiral in the garden daily.


Canon PowerShot SX10 IS

Meadow Grasshopper

One of many orthopterans at Castor Hanglands.

Meadow Grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus

Canon PowerShot A2100 IS

Eyed Ladybird

A rare visitor to the moth trap

Eyed Ladybird Anatis ocellata

Canon PowerShot SX10 IS

Common Tern

Up to 16 lingering on Gunwade Lake at Ferry Meadows.

Common Tern Hirundo rustica
Adult



Juvenile



Digiscoped with Canon PowerShot A640 and Leica APO 77 x20

Red-eared Terrapin

An unexpected sight at The Boardwalks NR in Peterborough.

Red-eared Terrapin Trechemys scripta

Canon PowerShot A640

Speckled Bush Cricket

This female was around the pond in our garden. They are not often seen but we know there are plenty because we can hear the males with the bat detector at night.

Speckled Bush Cricket Leptophyes punctatissima, female


Canon Powershot SX10 IS

Garden Hovers

An amazing amount of hoverflies have been using the Hebe "Great Orme" in our garden. By far the most numerous insect at this excellent nectar source with inexcess of 100 at times. At least 12 species involved, a selection shown here.

Eristalis intricarius


Myathropa florea


Episyrphus balteatus


Eupeodes luniger


Scaevia pyrastri


Canon Powershot SX10 IS

Conops quadrifasciata

First for the garden I think. A female with the strange pouch under the 5th segment.

Conops quadrifasciata, female



Canon Powershot SX10

Eristalis intricarius, King's Dyke

This was among many insects in the usual good spot near the Green Wheel crossroads between Bradley Fen and King's Dyke West.

Eristalis intricarius



Canon Powershot A2100

Stictoleptura rubra

A good day for insects in the garden with many butterflies, hundreds of hoverflies (mainly Episyrphus balteatus) and others like this excellent longhorn beetle.

Stictoleptura rubra, male


Comma Polygonia c-album


Canon A2100 IS

Blenheim Palace

A day out at Blenheim Palace, where the rose garden provided some subjects for the A2100. It is turning out to be a very capable macro camera with surprisingly good depth of field on closeups.

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui



Rosa 'Troika'


Rosa 'City of Belfast'


Canon A2100 IS

Ligia oceanica

Came across this while climbing on the cliffs at Sennen. Largest of the 'woodlice' this is an impressive beast. Scale is hard to convey in the pics but I would say this exceeds the reference maximum of 30mm by some margin. Not sure I like the common name of Sea Slater.

Ligia oceanica


Canon A2100

Mediterranean Gull

Present on the reserve at Ferry Meadows fairly briefly at 17:45 this evening. Provided a good chance to try out the new camera, which on these results doesn't seem ideal for digiscoping.

Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus, juvenile



Digiscoped with Canon A2100 and Leica APO77 x20

Insects, King's Dyke

Plenty of insects in spots protected from the wind: Rhingia campestris, Merodon equestris, Eristalis and Syrphus hoverflies; Comma, Red Admiral, Peacock, Common Blue, Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper butterflies; Brown Hawker and Common Darter dragonflies. Also had a young Peregrine zip low overhead while watching them.

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta


Peacock Inachis io


Rhingia campestris


Canon A640

Bordered Pug

The first since 2004.

Bordered Pug Eupithecia succenturiata

Canon A640

White Admiral

Several showing rather well at Bedford Purlieus today.

White Admiral Limenitis camilla

Digiscoped with Canon A640 and Leica APO77 x20

Purple Hairstreak

Noticed this hairstreak flitting about the tops of the elms at the west end of Orton Brick Pits and assumed it was a White-letter until I looked more closely. Not a great picture but it was high in the canopy.

Purple Hairstreak Neozephyrus quercus

Digiscoped with Canon A640 and Leica APO77 x20

Southey Woods

About the same time of year as last year's invasion and here they are again. Found a party of 18 Crossbills along the main ride. Seemed to be quite a few males among them and heard a bit of song.

Crossbill Loxia curvirostra


Southern Hawker Aeshna cyanea


Digiscoped with Canon A640 and Leica APO77 x20

Midwife Toad

We've often heard these in a friend's garden in Oundle but never seen them before. Here a male is carrying eggs persued by a young Common Toad. Although these two are the same size the Midwife is fully grown but the Common still rather young; fully grown it would be twice as large or more. The easiest way to tell them apart (if there were no eggs present) would be the parotoid glands visible as two elongated smooth bulges behind the eyes of the Common Toad. These secrete a neurotoxin to deter predators but are absent in the Midwife Toad.

Both species were out on the garden paths here in the night after a rainy evening but the Midwife Toads were making a lot of noise from all around.

Midwife Toads are introduced and aren't though to be a threat to any native wildlife.

Midwife Toad Alytes obstetricans (male with eggs) and Common Toad Bufo bufo

Caddis fly

Not all that enters a moth trap is lepidopterous. Caddis flies are very common but few are as distinctive and attractive as this one. It might take a little while to get an id.

Edit: Many thanks to Geoff et al for assistance in tracking down the id of this beast. Only a minority of adult caddis can be identified from photos.

Athripsodes albifrons

Canon A640