If at first you don't succeed...

The Lissonota sp. ichneumonids have started to lay their eggs in unsuspecting moth larvae hidden inside grass seedheads. I've been following these for a week, now, and yesterday I was rewarded with a couple of shots of the egg-laying taking place:

Notice the antennae being used to pinpoint (ouch!) the location of the larva.


This shot shows the ovipositor at the moment it was being retracted. It's finer than a human hair.


This shot appears to be of a male (of a completely different species):

Staying with parasitic insects, these two Tachinids were on adjacent Bramble leaves. It looks as if they were pointedly ignoring each other. I see a great many Tachinids, and this shows just how many larvae of moths and butterflies are parasitised each year.

Some leaf-miners are very easily identified as such. This is Agromyza filipendulae, on Meadowsweet.


But the mines of Phyllonorycter species can easily be overlooked. This is Phyllonorycter rajella, on Alder. The pupa is only 2mm long, so the adult moth will never be recognised as such in flight.


That's the year half over, and it was only just new year.

Aphids in trouble again

I noticed that the Knapweed was covered in brown aphids, so I settled down to see if any female hoverflies came along. Sure enough, a female Episyrphus balteatus arrived and as soon as she spotted the aphids she started to lay. The aphids are in trouble, since her larvae will consume them by the hundred.


Sometimes she laid her eggs quite distant from the aphids (but always on the same plant). At other times she laid a lot closer:


Spiders are the major gap in my knowledge. I must start on them next year.

I was getting acquainted with emerging specimens of Angelica, in preparation for the July flowering, and I spotted this mine of Phytomyza angelicastri:


A couple of additional images of Dactylorhiza orchids with slightly unusual markings. This one has very vague nectar guides:


And this one has nectar guides which are much redder than usual:

Moths and Beetles

A few more moths to light. First of all, Plain Golden Y - Autographa jota:



Riband Wave - Idaea aversata:


Flame Shoulder - Ochropleura plecta:


I had no idea that the female 14-spot ladybird was so much larger than the male:


And now we have it...Rhagonycha fulva, a Soldier Beetle. A clear sign that the nights are drawing in.

More on orchids

It has been suggested that really robust specimens like this one are showing 'hybrid vigour'. Since I consider them all to be hybrids, I rather think their environment might just have something to do with it instead.


The next sequence shows the gently graded colour variation from lilac to white:


That last one with no colouration whatsoever and yellow pollinia is known as Dactylorhiza fuchsii, ssp. o'kellyi, and is confined to western Ireland. No comment.


I raced to have a close look at these two when I saw them, and sure enough, the spike is short and the lower lobes are really frilly. A perfect Heath Spotted Orchid?

Not in my book...they just happened to be the only two with their feet submerged in the stream, and were less than a metre away from identically-coloured CSO with dry feet.

Still with orchids in mind, have a look at this shot of the hoverfly Helophilus pendulus:

Notice anything?

The hoverfly has some green objects stuck to its antennae. A much closer zoom in shows that they are, in fact, the pollinia of an orchid:

They must be quite irritating to the hoverfly, because it was quite clearly trying to remove them. Maybe hoverflies aren't perfectly built for this pollination task.

Ichneumon time

This Ichneumonid was examining every grass seed looking for moth larvae. She didn't appear to find any, because no laying was noticed. Still...there's always tomorrow. For her, and for me.




Notice the antenna wrapped right round the seedhead in this shot:

Small stuff

I knew this micromoth was new to me, but I had to get back to the web before I could name it. Micropterix aruncella. 3mm long! What a handsome beast.



Another micro, but a much larger one, at 12mm long. Timothy Tortrix - Aphelia paleana. I found a new larva of this the other night, so it's clearly around in all of its stages.


One of the Snipe Flies - Chrysopilus cristatus.



The hoverfly Xylota segnis is highly atypical of hoverflies: it runs very quickly over leaves, brushing its head from side to side, gathering pollen. Those legs are made for jumping - bizarre!

Nice shadow.

Summer Solstice

Large update to the Species List. 24 new species added, so it's right up-to-date.

Not too much to show today, but I thought this image of the 14-spot ladybird having lunch at the expense of an Aphid was worth showing.

Between showers

Yorkshire Fog - Holcus lanatus - is one of the most common (and prettier, I think) of our hedgerow grasses:


Lesser Stitchwort is an extremely delicate plant that supports itself by twining itself through its neighbours.


Cydia nigricana - the Pea Shoot Moth - is usually found near Vetches and other members of the pea family. It's rather handsome:



Another of the parasitic Tachinid flies. This one's on the about-to-open Meadowsweet:


Something made me turn over this Bramble leaf and I found a batch of Beetle eggs stuck to the underside.

Summer flowers

You can tell we're approaching the summer solstice, which is rather a depressing thought.

This is Pignut. One of these days I'm going to eat the nut.


Meadow Vetchling, or Meadow Pea, is rather tricky to photograph without the yellow burning out.


Marsh Thistle tends to attract a lot of good insects, especially hoverflies and picture-wing flies. These will be my main observation targets until the Angelica comes out.


Marsh Cinquefoil always amazes me. It grows in a very tightly-confined area on the edge of one ditch. Spot the tiny petals...the big pink bits are bracts.


A bit of a surprise. I haven't found Cut-leaved Cranesbill on the patch before: I usually find it about 10 miles away.

This specimen was found on a dump site in a lay-by. Maybe it was brought in.

Dactylorhiza orchids

The main flush of Dactylorhiza orchids has appeared. These are always at their best when the lowest rank of flowers has just newly opened.

For years, there has been a huge debate about the number of species and descriptions of the species and hybridisation. It is known that they hybridise and back-cross, so I suggest that most specimens are an intermediate 'hybrid' amongst 3 key 'species' in our location: Common Spotted Orchid (CSO), Heath Spotted Orchid (HSO) and Northern Marsh Orchid (NMO). Given that these 'species' hybridise so regularly, I can't see any uncorrupted ones being possible, so I rather think that we are taking a few distinguishing characteristics and lumping individuals into one bucket or another, depending on what we see.

This one shows the main features of 'CSO'...tall spike, three very clear lobes to the base of the flower, very little frilling:



This one shows more influence of 'HSO', with much frillier lips and a slightly shorter spike.

This would appear to have some NMO influence...much darker markings and a still shorter spike:


I'll leave the next few to your own imagination.

The lower left flower in this specimen shows the nectar hole being clearly indicated by the purple lines, which act as a guide for insects. The hole suggests that these species need a long-tongued insect like a butterfly or bee to pollinate them. Pollination is carried out via the pair of brown pollinia which attach pollen to the back of the pollinating insect.


This last one, however, shows a nice feature. The flowers form 'upside down', and only then do they rotate to their final position.

That last one would be pure 'CSO' if it wasn't for the (very) short spike.

Late edit:

Gill mentioned in her comments that the inverted flower looks more developed than usual. This is true. A close look reveals that the 'lower' lip has developed too quickly and has jammed against the flower above it. This combination of features will prevent the flower from passing on any pollen, so this is the end of the line for that combination.

Mixed bag

This is the fourth (and final, I think) of the Damselfly species on my local patch. Emerald Damselfly - Lestes sponsa, a male.



The Downlooker Fly - Rhagio scolopacea - is one of the Snipe Flies. They adopt this characteristic position on leaves, bark or plant stems, leaping to catch passing insects and returning to their perch to consume their prey.


I rather suspect that micromoths are widely overlooked. Most of the 'flies' or 'midges' seen fluttering around on verges and hedges are, in fact, micromoths. They can be detected in flight by their erratic, sometimes spiraling, trajectory. The instant they land they become virtually invisible, either blending into the background or hiding under leaves. Most of the shots I get of them come from observing the flight pattern and keeping them firmly in sight until they land.

This is Ancylis badiana, which has two generations per year:


This large (20mm) Ichneumonid is readily recognisable from the white-tipped antennae and ruby-red abdomen. They land on leaves and very quickly run to the underside in search of caterpillars to parasitise.


The very long proboscis of the dance-fly Empis stercorea has multiple uses. Here it is being used to suck up nectar from Cow Parsley flowers.



Yet another new moth species for me: Coxcomb Prominent - Ptilodon capucina. You can just imagine how well this would be camouflaged against bark or dry leaves.

Every day is different

I went to our highest local point in the expectation of finding some orchids in flower. The first thing I saw was this female Orange Tip - the first I've seen this year, although I've seen the eggs and now the larvae...see below.


The Northern March Orchids were in perfect condition for a photograph. Plenty of specimens in the usual place.


My first thought for this (from distance) was a slightly early Common Spotted Orchid, but the flower shape is identical to the Northern Marsh. This specimen was about 1 metre from the Northern Marsh, so I'm happy to call it the hybrid between the two. Nice portrait.


This Heath Milkwort was a bit of a surprise: I usually find it in deep blue, strong pink or pure white. This pale blue one is entirely new. Wonderful colour.


The first Orange Tip larvae have hatched. This one is about 3mm long...just visible on the stalk of the seedpod.

These are the eggs of the Dock Leaf Beetle, Gastrophysa viridula. The shot was on a Sorrel leaf, which is slightly unusual, although not unknown.


A Willowherb that doesn't look like a Willowherb: New Zealand Willowherb. This seems to like slightly higher places.

These are a few of my favourite things

It's June, and we've had a week of great weather, so the insects are appearing very quickly now.

Two great hoverflies, starting with one of my favourites: Leucozona lucorum. Look out for its close relatives Leucozona glaucia and Leucozona laternaria.


Anasimyia lineata is another favourite because I suspected it would be present, but it took me 5 years to find it. The larvae are associated with Bulrush - Typha sp.


Cantharis rustica is one of around half a dozen Soldier Beetles on the patch.


Male and female Azure Damselflies - Coenagrion puella:



Two shots of male Bombus pratorum:

Difficult to keep up with identifications

Dry nights are good for moths (and, sadly, midges). This is a new one to me: Muslin Footman - Nudaria mundana. A very delicate species (the wings are translucent), the larvae feed on lichens.


Another new micromoth: Epiblema subocellana, which lives on Salix sp. in wet areas:

Back to macro moths. this is the Garden Carpet - Xanthorhoe fluctuata.


And lastly, a minute (2mm!) weevil, also on Willow (Salix).


Looks to be Archarius salicivorus, but I don't know about confusion species.

Quarry visit

The local disused quarry is excellent for wildlife. It's a suntrap and the bottom level is flooded, which is good for Damselflies and Dragonflies. I also find a few plants here that I don't find locally elsewhere.

Damselflies are pink on emergence, but quickly change to their proper colour. This male Common Blue Damselfly is just showing tiny hints of blue: Enallagma cyathigerum.



And here are two females:



Last week I showed the male Large Red Damselfly. This is the female:


Heath Speedwell is one of my favourites, with its large, mauve flowers.


Mouse-ear Hawkweed is quite distinctive. This is the only place I find it locally.

Dry night - moths to light

Plenty of moth activity due to the dry days/nights.

This is the Brimstone Moth - Opisthograptis luteolata:


The rather frequent Buff Ermine - Spilosoma luteum.


Difficult to catch the subtle blue colouring of the Clouded Silver - Lomographa temerata - under flash:



And finally for today, the orange form of Common Marbled Carpet - Chloroclysta truncata.


When identifying moths, pattern is virtually everything. Colour is much less important. And this specimen is VERY worn.