Tags
crab spider, flowering in July, froghopper, green shield bug, harebell, hogweed, mating red beetles on flowers, Nursery Web spider, red soldier beetle, red-legged shield bug, spider that makes web tents in grass, strangalia maculata, sulphur beetle, wild thyme, yellow and black beetle
July 15th
In the woods I spotted this extremely tiny froghopper, but only because he was struggling to extricate himself from a spider’s web built in ivy climbing up a tree trunk.
In the meadow, the Nursery-web spider would probably have escaped my notice too if I hadn’t been trying to get closer to a butterfly in the brambles. More used to seeing this species web ‘tents’ on the ground in the grass, I wouldn’t have realised who had built this one if I hadn’t seen her guarding it.
There are some lovely wildflowers in bloom in the meadow amongst the grass, my current favourite are the delicate-looking harebells,
although I have always been fond of the sunshine yellow Lady’s Bedstraw
but then there’s the Wild Thyme that is looking spectacular this year where a large patch of it cascades down the limestone rocks.
There’s a Cat’s Ear plant near that spot too, which nicely demonstrates both the flowers and the seedhead ‘clocks’ simultaneously.
Hogweed works at another level and is an invaluable food source for a whole host of insects from beetles to butterflies.
Some of the insects feasting on the flowers today were Sulphur beetles, including dozens of tiny ‘baby’ ones
A 7-spot ladybird, a so-far un-named brown beetle
There were dozens of Red Soldier Beetles, many in the act of procreation as these beetles always seem to be. There was a little moth there with them, but again I haven’t discovered what it is yet.
Whilst photographing a pair of mating Red soldier beetles, I noticed another beetle caught up in spider’s webbing. As I looked closer I spotted the head and front legs of a spider creeping up over the edge of the flower, then she darted out and begin to drag her victim backwards to where she had appeared from. This was a Crab spider, mistress of camouflage and deadly to insects that stray into her path regardless of their size. Cruel, but fascinating and quite a feat as the beetle was as least equal in size to her.
Crab spiders are able to change their body colour to match their background. The process can take a few days, but they can appear white, yellow or green. The irony of this scene struck me; a beetle life ended in full view of a pair of his kind in the act of procreating the species….
The Crab spider show would take some beating, but my ‘discovery of the day’ was quite definitely a splendid large yellow and black beetle, Strangalia maculata, that surprisingly doesn’t appear to have a common name.
On another flowerhead another spider lurked, this time a small brown one, much enlarged in the photograph.
In the long grass I spotted an insect flying and managed to keep an eye on where it landed, otherwise I would never have found it; a Gorse Shieldbug.
A bright fresh bronzy-coloured forest bug was more easily spotted.
A peek at the oak trees revealed tiny acorns. The ones I photographed belonges to a Sessile Oak – the acorns sit flat rather than hanging on stems as those of the Pedunculate Oak. Hopefully this will be a better year for them than last year was.
Rain clouds were gathering – is it really summer?
Highlighted text for Shieldbugs are links to more details about these insects in my ‘Species Collections’.
Thank you, I am always discovering things that are new to me too, so I am learning all the time as well!
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Nature is wonderful to look closely at what is around us and learn from others the names off these lovely little creatures is truly delightful. Well done .
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The nearby death of a comrade certainly doesn’t seem to have put the amorous pair off! Obviously busy making a few replacements.
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I don’t think anything would put these beetles off their procreating! The females carry on feeding and scuttling over flowerheads regardless of what their attached male is doing, so it’s hardly surprising a mere murder is ignored!
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Beetles, bugs, insects call them what you want, you’ve got so many of them there you lucky so and so. Fantastic captures to boot.
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Thanks Tony, we are indeed blessed with a generous helping of insect species here and I know I have only scratched the surface of what is actually present. I always feel incredibly lucky to be in the right place at the right time to discover things I’ve not seen before as they’re there one day and out of sight the next!
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If you’re only scratching the surface with your insectivorous adventures and the identification of them, I’ve gotten one humungous itch to scratch then, as your knowledge levels on such things are very impressive indeed. Keep on blogging.
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