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Pied Hoverfly (Scaeva pyrastri) |
After my trip to
Adel church I called in at Golden acre park to see the flowers, a place I have visited many times to photograph and feed the birds. During the summer months the large gardens are beautiful.
Golden acre park 12 July 2017
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Common red soldier beetle |
The day was warm so there were plenty of insects, the black and white stripes of the hoverfly were stunning and it was quite large for a hoverfly when you are just used to seeing the small Marmalade hoverfly(Episyrphus balteatus) in your back garden. I was later to find out it is called Pied Hoverfly (Scaeva pyrastri)
The hoverfly book came out when I got home, Iv'e had it a few years now and the photos are very good, but like any new subject from wildflowers to moths if you are new they all end up looking the same, so that's why it went back on the shelf. Well this year with the help of Twitter and
UK Hoverflies on Facebook I am giving it a go.
A morning looking at "Insects on the wing" at Denso nature reserve didn't go to plan due to the rain, but I managed to find some nice snails.
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Kentish Snail - Monacha cantiana |
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Amber Snail - Succinea putris |
This week was a trip to Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits Local Nature Reserve to do a
Big Butterfly Count , I managed to see 34 butterflies but the highlight was a Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)
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Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits Local Nature Reserve 18 July 2017 |
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Speckled wood ( Pararge aegeria) |
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Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) |
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Comma Butterfly ( Polygonia c-album) |
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Eristalis nemorum Hoverfly |
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Cinnabar moth caterpillar on Ragwort |
With a new interest in Hoverflies I ventured up on to Yeadon Banks, there is a field full of Ragwort and thistles, a good place to look for wildlife.
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Yeadon Banks |
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Horses keeping cool |
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Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare 19 July 2017 |
Along the path there were some rather large Spear Thistles growing, taking the time to look closely I was surprised by how much was going on in just one plant, some might call it a weed but it's so important for many insects.
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Pied Hoverfly (Scaeva pyrastri) |
Plenty of Hoverflies and bees, I just love the different faces on the Hoverflies, spiders too were making most of all the insects available, fast food on the door step.
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Spider store |
7 Spot Lady birds were amongst the Black fly, on one thistle there was over 10 Ladybirds .
Buathra laborator, Wasp were in the tops of the thistles laying their eggs.
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7-spot Ladybird ( Coccinella 7-punctata) |
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Buathra laborator, Wasp |
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"candy-striped" spider |
I found this what I think is "candy-striped" spider , tending to a live moth larvae, the larvae was alive put tethered at the bottom end by the web so it could still eat.
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Hoverfly Platycheirus sp. |
As I wondered about the a Little Owl took of, there has been Little Owls up here as long as I can remember, once disturbed they normally fly to far to get a good photo, but today it stayed close by in the tree.
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Little Owl |
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Red-tailed Bumblebee - Bombus lapidarius |
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22-spot ladybird (Psyllobora 22-punctata) |
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Noon Fly - Mesembrina meridiana |
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Home to a Andrenidae - Mining bees |
So the next time you see a Thistle STOP and have a closer look.
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19 July 2017 |