99.9% of the bumblebees seen any year will be female; either queens or workers. The much rarer males or drones are generally brighter, with much wider yellow bands and a yellow tuft of hairs on the head. This is a male Bombus lucorum (or more probably Bombus cryptarum, which seems to be my local form of the Bombus lucorum complex):
Crab Spiders don't make webs, but instead lurk on leaves and stems of plants, poised to leap out on unsuspecting prey. This Xysticus cristatus wasn't particularly well camouflaged (which is probably why I saw it so readily):
Small Copper butterflies are always scarce. Since they feed on Sorrel - which is very common -there must be some other environmental factor which governs their development.
The Tenthredo sp. sawflies are just starting to make an appearance. Aggressive predators as adults (although vegetarians as larvae), they will have a field day on the larger umbellifers when they start to flower next month.
More moths continue to come to light. This is a new species for me: the Map-winged Swift - Hepialus fusconebulosa.
And this is the Beautiful Golden Y - Autographa pulchrina:
This last shot isn't so much about the aphid and her young, it's more about the amazing look of the leaf of Cocksfoot grass:
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