Post your insects

[Slipper]

Never seen one of these before in my garden.
I think its a female Dark Bush Cricket, but would appreciate a proper ID.

[jdathebowler]

Hi Geoff,
Smashing photo of the fly and dead just like my wasp. In regard to the Tachinid a Sarcophagidae was also suggested so I will do some further research.I have just joined the Hoverfly Recording Scheme.Some very knowledgeable people who certainly know their hoverflies. They also have a Dipterist Forum so I will join and post the photo and ask them to identify the fly for me.
John.

[Geoff F]

Yes, Dark Bush Cricket. They get quite large. You will find a lot of juveniles around in early Summer but few seem to make it to adulthood.

I do send my hoverfly records to the Hoverfly Recording Scheme. For general insect, or other wildlife enquiries, I use Wild About Britain. There is a Diptera Info Forum which can be handy for looking at comparison images, but despite several attempts I have never got through the joining process.

The same happened with the Cranefly Recording Scheme.

Diptera Info is here

http://www.diptera.info/photogallery.php

[Slipper]

Yes, Dark Bush Cricket. They get quite large. You will find a lot of juveniles around in early Summer but few seem to make it to adulthood.

I do send my hoverfly records to the Hoverfly Recording Scheme. For general insect, or other wildlife enquiries, I use Wild About Britain. There is a Diptera Info Forum which can be handy for looking at comparison images, but despite several attempts I have never got through the joining process.

The same happened with the Cranefly Recording Scheme.

Diptera Info is here

http://www.diptera.info/photogallery.php

Thanks Geoff, I have never seen many of the insects I now do, all to getting a macro lens. Fascinating.

[Geoff F]

Look out - the Hornets are coming!





Emerging from a nest which was constructed around a Blue Tit nesting box.

And a cranefly - Pedicia rivosa.



Deep in the dark woods so I was totally reliant on flash power. I rather like this side view but here is another more traditional angle.

[Geoff F]

This isn't a snake . . .



It's a caterpillar! Possibly a Wormwood Pug Moth but I'm waiting for confirmation from some experts.

[Slipper]

Good shot of the hornets Geoff, braver than me. Coincidentally I had one coming for me today,(first this year) but it hit a web first. It was out of the web in seconds though and flew off.
The caterpillar is unique too.

[Geoff F]

Hornets are normally fairly placid unless they feel you are a threat to the nest; and then they usually give a warning first.

When a few started flying around me and buzzing, I withdrew for a little while before returning for a few more photos. Then left them alone.

I have seen Common Wasps raiding prey from a spider's web. They chased the spider away then cut through the web strands before flying away with the spider's intended dinner.

[Slipper]

Hornets are normally fairly placid unless they feel you are a threat to the nest; and then they usually give a warning first.

When a few started flying around me and buzzing, I withdrew for a little while before returning for a few more photos. Then left them alone.

I have seen Common Wasps raiding prey from a spider's web. They chased the spider away then cut through the web strands before flying away with the spider's intended dinner.

Ah, I wonder if that what my one was doing, will dig out the blurry shot and see. Thanks.

EDIT



There is a small fly there

[Geoff F]

Have had some expert advice on that caterpillar. Probably a Grey Pug Moth. Wormwood Pug Caterpillars (which I found at the same location a week earlier) look like this.



Also from the same wood, a rather common Eristalis tenax, but with some extra background decoration.



Had a blocked drain yesterday, which was a rather unpleasant and smelly experience, but when I lifted the cover I found 5 of these Cave Spiders (Meta menardi) underneath. Quite large, with 14 mm body length.

[Cantab]

Had a blocked drain yesterday, which was a rather unpleasant and smelly experience, but when I lifted the cover I found 5 of these Cave Spiders (Meta menardi) underneath. Quite large, with 14 mm body length.

Geoff, I'm glad some good came out of the blocked drain. This is a good shot. Canada went metric 35 or so years ago, but I still think in inches. My mental arithmetic is the spider was a bit under 3/4" - despite its enormous size on the screen.

Edit: I've reread your post, it's the body size is 14mm, not the total size. That's big!

[jdathebowler]

Found this Green Shield Bug hiding in my garden waste wheelie bin after cutting back some Lavatera Bushes.
John

[Geoff F]

I have seen quite a lot of juvenile Green Shieldbugs this year but very few adults so far. Probably due to mature in a week or so.

Bruce, I'm also a bit mixed up with metric/imperial measurements.

Up to 100 mm I find metric easier. Much simpler to work out drill sizes, taps and dies, etc than having to deal with those 64 ths of an inch!

But above 4 inches I still find the old measurements work better for me because I can visualise the sizes then. So I often ask for 3 ft 6 ins of 10 mm etc.

And those centimetres completely throw me. Which is why the UK building trade, and some other industries, only use mm even if that means working in several thousand millimetres!

Mind you I have still come a cropper with the old measurements. For example, take a measurement of 2 ft 2 ins then cut to 22 ins.

[Geoff F]

Not a lot of interest today. Found what looks like a Spider Hunting Wasp. They catch spiders and leave them at the bottom of individual burrows as food for the developing larva.





It was continually moving around and the flower was also rocking with the wind. So I pushed the shutter to 1/400 and used high speed flash to do what I could. Most shots were total rejects.

And looking at me from deep within the foliage.



Tried to find a better angle but this was the best I could do. Using flash helped to reduce the problems with shadows from surrounding plant matter.

[ajohnw]

I have the impression you live in the UK Geoff. If so I feel like I should move to the same area. For me there is nothing like the same variety around here.

John
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[Geoff F]

I have the impression you live in the UK Geoff. If so I feel like I should move to the same area. For me there is nothing like the same variety around here.

John
-

Yes, John, the extreme south UK. It was on my details, but that information somehow appears to have gone missing. I will have to look at that and do an update - more tricky technical stuff to struggle with when I should be out shooting, or at least editing images!

It did take me a while to locate some reliable sites for wildlife photography/data recording. There are a lot of blank areas around here as well.

For example, today was a bit of an experiment. There are reliable areas of this particular wildlife reserve but I have never found a lot in other areas of the fairly large site. So this year I have spent a bit more time in some of the less productive spaces to see if they really are dull or if it was simply me looking for the wrong species in the wrong locations.

And after quite a bit of time, trying to spend at least one day per week in these areas, I have started to discover some interesting species; but often not my intended target species. Sometimes, I switch to flowers or fungi and discover alternative subjects.

Today didn't produce a lot of species although I got some interesting finds including a couple of uncommon species.

So today's photos . . . not really rare but the first that I have found this year. They were amongst complicated and distracting backgrounds which I can't alter although I have done what I can to tone down the problems. This happens so often with real life wildlife photography.

Southern Hawker female



And the male.



They were at opposite ends of the site. I wonder if they will get together somewhere in the middle ground?

[Montana Roy]

Honey_Bee by Ryan R. Richards Photography, on Flickr

[marlunn]

looking at the wings of the male Geoff it looks like he has been around the houses a bit !

one in my back garden, found when picking some tomatoes - so sometimes the wasp does not get away with the robbery

[deetheturk]

Great images guy's, been away for a couple of weeks so too many wonderful posts to reply to individually Keep up the good work!

David

[Franci]

A really acrobatic meal