Ive been looking out for ivy bees for a couple of weeks now and was finally rewarded today 😀. I want to say ichneumon stramentor @fidgetbones but they don't seem to have the stripy bums! I had lots of these in the garden earlier this year.
Male Speckled Bush Cricket, found in the garden last night while mothing, I believe they cannot fly, so how on earth has it ended up here, I think the nearest colony is 53miles away.
The yellow dung fly - now call me thick but having sat and watched these flies many a time, it had never struck me that they spend a lot of time sitting around and not much on flowers feeding. The reason, of course, is that they don't (much) feed on nectar but on other flies. I watched this one catch its prey, impressively fast.
In more watchful mode
And I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I find flies just wonderful when you look at them close up.
According to iNaturalist this is only the 4th record for West Yorkshire, so it looks like the Speckled Bush Cricket is slowly marching ever northwards.
Fly of the day. I don't (yet) know what it is but I love it, especially the eyes. On parsley, the only place I've seen it but it does appear to be fly heaven.
Edit - It appears to be Stormorhina lunata, or the locust blowfly.
These are from yesterday. I'm not sure of the ID, at a guess the Silver Y moth, Autographa gamma? Feeding on the lower flowers of Buddleja, seemingly quite unfussed by my presence for 15 minutes or so;
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I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
Ive been looking out for ivy bees for a couple of weeks now and was finally rewarded today 😀.
I want to say ichneumon stramentor @fidgetbones but they don't seem to have the stripy bums! I had lots of these in the garden earlier this year.
Male Speckled Bush Cricket, found in the garden last night while mothing, I believe they cannot fly, so how on earth has it ended up here, I think the nearest colony is 53miles away.
In more watchful mode
And I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I find flies just wonderful when you look at them close up.
Edit - It appears to be Stormorhina lunata, or the locust blowfly.
It spent lots of time upside down