Not so subtle

After the last entry about camouflage, some of these species seem to be quite the opposite - rather blatant. Bright colouration can, of course, still be protective: some species are toxic and don't mind being easy to see.

I rarely see dead Ichneumonids: they seem to be largely free from predators. I rather liked this rosy one (although I tend to be seduced by any Ichneumonid, really).

Orange Tips are protected by their internal store of mustard oil, which they obtain from the host plant as a larva, and the orange wing-tips of the males are a warning signal to any passing birds. In this shot, the female has her abdomen raised which is basically telling the two attendant males that they are too late:

This is one of the few Tachinids that can be readily identified from a photograph: Gymnocheta viridis. These are parasitic on large moth and butterfly larvae.

(See what I mean about a bristly appearance?)

There are hundreds of Crane-fly species, many of the larger ones looking very similar to each other. This Marsh Crane Fly - Tipula oleracea - has legs which are almost ridiculously long in relation to its wingspan; they reach almost to the top and right edges of this image:

Summer is certainly here: the Soldier Beetles are warm weather creatures. Cantharis rustica:
The hedgerow is suddenly full of tiny glittering micromoths. Glyphipterix simpliciella is dependant on Cocksfoot Grass, and can be seen flying near the host plant in large numbers.

They're about the same size as the black bit on the tip of a sharp pencil. I have no idea what the yellow ?aphid is.

Gap between the showers

The Chrysomelid beetles are making a fine mess of the Willow leaves, only days after they have fully opened. This is Lochmaea caprea, and is confined to Willow.


Last week I showed Creeping Cinquefoil. This is its very close relative - Tormentil. Amazingly, I still have 3 species from this family to show in the near future.


As soon as the rain stops, the insects are back out cleaning themselves ready for their next flight. This is one of the Tenthredo sp. Sawflies. These are all strictly vegetarian as larvae and many are voracious predators as adults.


The wonderful, minute micromoth Glyphipterix simpliciella is one of the few to have a common name - Cocksfoot Moth. Its larvae live inside the stems of Cocksfoot grass and it is all of 4mm long. Check that on a ruler.


An amazing shot of a dead Holly leaf having been pierced in two places by the shoots of Horsetail, and being hoisted like a banner. The plant to the rear is Meadow Buttercup.


The end of a hoverfly. This spider had caught the fly and was in the process of beginning to wrap it up.


I have an expanding patch of purest white Bush Vetch in just one area. It appears to breed true from seed. I wonder when a sport like this becomes a (sub)species in its own right.

Various tinies

The hedgerows are almost up to speed now that all the greenery is available. The availability of greenery brings larvae to feed on it, the presence of larvae brings ichneumonids to parasitise them. This medium-sized ichneumonid is about 15 mm. long, including those wonderful antennae.

Some of the micromoths really are minute, but many are are at least as pretty as the macros, and some are much more beautiful. This is Glyphipterix simpliciella - the Cocksfoot Moth. The larvae live inside stems of Cocksfoot grass. The adult moths are 3-4 mm. long, and can be seen running over the leaves and stems of the host plant at this time of year. The only way to see these is to lie down in a bank of grass and wait for them to land, as when they're flying around they look rather like midges:

I mentioned leaf miners earlier and they have started to appear (indeed some are finished already). This is the mine of Phytomyza chaerophylli - an agromyzid fly. One of the main identification characteristics for the mines of flies is that many of them contain a double row of frass (polite word for dung) in the mine. In these flies, the teeth are oriented in a such a way that the fly must eat right to left and then turn onto its other side and eat left to right. As it turns, its rear end points in opposite directions, resulting in the two rows of frass. The section of leaf shown here is about 15mm. across:


An easily identified hoverfly: Melanostoma scalare. I liken the yellow abdominal patches on these to oven gloves. (Female) fly about 12mm long.

One of my first butterfly images of the year: Green-veined White with the Click beetle Athous haemorroidalis (lower left).