Saw a 4 spotted chaser dragonfly at the pond yesterday.. didn’t stay still long enough for me to focus properly! Then today found this tiny little thing on my bathroom mirror... beautiful wings- anyone have an ID?
A Swallow-tailed Moth, Ourapteryx sambucaria, a rather large insect with a wingspan of over two inches, photographed by flash on my window tonight. The flash has given it a rather metallic look. Larvae feed on Ivy and various trees and shrubs.
What a fantastic picture @Alan Clark2 in Liverpool , this Swallow tailed Moth is huge and the detail is brilliant. We are in the throes of doing a moth survey in our garden and are trapping moths that I haven't seen for years (no harm to moths I might add). I would love to find one of the Ourapteryx Sambucaria.
I know next to nothing about dragonflies (but am enjoying learning), but I think that this is a "common darter", which was buzzing around the pond this morning:
Managed to grab a few more pics of this guy, who has been most obliging this morning and just sitting around - usually on the same iris leaf. Amazing colours with the sun behind me!
@matt_fender what a beauty, I have never seen one of these common darters at our pond, we only appear (after 4 years) to have the Emperor, which is fairly common but still a wonderful sight.
Lovely stuff @Guernsey Donkey2. Have you had the nymphs hatching from your pond yet? This is first year for our pond, and it is rather small so I delighted that we seem to have attracted at least a few dragonflies. We had an emperor a couple of weeks ago that appeared to be laying eggs (pic earlier in this thread). I have also seen a large (emperor sized, roughly) yellow one that I wasn't able to picture. The darter seems much more drab in real life (just brown), but when the sun catches it the colours really seem to pop! Only seen the one though, and no sign of laying but it has been around all day. Maybe its waiting for a mate?
That "common darter" (Sympetrum striolatum) is indeed quite common. I used to take shots of him (and his cousins) when I went to the shores of the ponds a few years back. Now my insects photo safari is mostly restricted to my garden.
Here a series of shots of my friendly "soldier beetle" Rhagonycha fulva
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A Swallow-tailed Moth, Ourapteryx sambucaria, a rather large insect with a wingspan of over two inches, photographed by flash on my window tonight. The flash has given it a rather metallic look. Larvae feed on Ivy and various trees and shrubs.