Small gaps

The rain is still more or less continuous, with very short gaps between showers, and I have had to adopt a new tactic for getting some pictures: I watch the sky to the southwest and wait until I see a gap in the weather some 12-15 km away. I then rush out and hope to reach the fringes of town before the gap in the rain reaches me. That means I'm in place when the temporary stop occurs. This is fine for getting photographs of plants and mines, but not so good for insects because it takes them a little while to realise that the rain has stopped and they have warmed up enough to fly to the nectar sources that I'm watching at the moment.

Tufted Vetch is an odd plant: it grows in only a few places on my patch, but wherever it grows it is rampant. There appears to be no similarity amongst the places it chooses and there are places that appear to be ideally suited, but the plant is absent. It must have some very particular micro-climate requirements.

Tufted Vetch

A few more late summer portraits:

Knapweed or Hardheads

Red Bartsia

Devilsbit Scabious

Taphrina alni is a parasitic fungus on female Alder cones:

Taphrina alni gall on Alder

The tongue-shaped growth reaches 4-5 cm. long and turns red before releasing its spores. Note that the growth is caused by the fungus, but is made by the Alder tree for the benefit of the fungus.


Alder is a good food source for Sawflies: these are multiple mines of Acidia cognata. The broad-shouldered larva can be seen in each of the mines:

Mines of the sawfly Acidia cognata on Alder

This next shot shows just how attractive Angelica is for insects at this time of year. I counted 7 ichneumonids, 2 sawflies and 2 dungflies on this flowerhead:

Angelica with Ichneumonids, Sawflies and Dungflies

One of the few Ichneumons that can be identified by sight: Amblyteles armatorius, which is parasitic on larger moths.

Ichneumon Wasp Amblyteles armatorius

Harvestmen are related to spiders, but they don't make a web. They hide instead in plants, waiting for some unsuspecting insect to come wandering along.

Harvestman Mitopus morio on Angelica

I like how the Angelica echoes the shape of the legs.

The social wasps are divided into two main families: Dolichovespula and Vespula. Dolichovespula species (Dolichovespula sylvestris shown) can be readily identified by the 'malar space', which is indicated by the arrow below:

Dolichovespula sylvestris, a Tree Wasp

The malar space is the distance between the lower edge of the eye and the upper edge of the mobile mandible, or jaw. In Dolichovespula sp., the gap is large, making the face very elongated, whilst in Vespula sp., the gap is virtually non-existent. Most of the wasps that can be seen moving leisurely over Angelica at the moment, including the one above, are males.

The Potato Capsid, Closterotomus norwegicus, is commonly found on Knapweed and other composite flowers. I have never found it on potato:

Potato Capsid on Knapweed

A collection from gaps in the rain

Another Dolichovespula sylvestris, but this time I think it's a male. Angelica is great for insects.


This Ichneumonid with huge antennae was wandering over leaves, sweeping the antennae from side to side. Long antennae usually indicate the male, but I'm sure this one was searching for larvae on the underside of the leaf.



Two shots of one of my favourite hoverflies, Scaeva pyrastri:


And a good wasp mimic, Sericomyia silentis.


Most leafminers make either a gallery mine (long and thin) or a blotch mine (erm, blotchy). Agromyza sulfuriceps does both. The mine starts as a gallery, then the gallery twists are all made adjacent to each other. Finally it breaks the walls and makes the blotch. A blotch mine has a distinct advantage in that the upper surface of the leaf can be pushed upwards. This allows the larva to grow bigger due to the increased space. So maybe this is a once-little fly that's getting bigger.


I have to leave the identification of this one a bit abstract: the species complex hasn't been fully worked out, yet. So it's Chromatomyia sp. On Common Ragwort.


As I was walking back to the car I heard a Buzzard high above me. No telephoto on a macro lens.

Playing catch up

In the normal order of things, higher order species tend to prey on lower-order species, so wasps and bees tend to be predators on flies (or members of their own order). The Conopid fly Sicus ferrugineus, however, reverses this trend. These are parasitic on bumblebees, stapling a single egg into the soft underside of the worker's abdomen. This oviposition is said to take place in flight, but I have never seen it happening. Once the bumblebee has been parasitised it tends to change its feeding habits, presumably to the benefit of the fly larva.


Mesembrina meridiana is easily recognisable due to the orange wing base. The name indicates that it is a noon flyer, and that's when I usually see them.


Angelica has flowered and that means plenty of shots of nectaring insects. this is the Tree Wasp - Dolichovespula sylvestris. It has an overall orange feel to the colouration and the antennae bases are yellow. Facial decoration is a single small spot.


This male hoverfly looked unusual, but it consistently keys out to the very common Eristalis pertinax.


Trombidium sp. mites are usually seen scrambling over the base of plants as they search for rotting vegetation. This one was sunning on a grass blade.


Those of you who have been following my websites for a few years will know that this is one of my favourite flowers: Slender St. John's Wort - Hypericum pulchrum. The latin name shows that I'm not alone in that opinion.


This pristine flower of Meadow Buttercup - Ranunculus acris - caught my attention:


Finally for today - Eyebright. That's as far as the id is going.