Saturday 12th July

A morning walk, just locally, gave up little of note in grey skies that slowly burnt off to give a bonus of heat during the afternoon. I wandered along the River Ash south of the Ford, discovering several new insects but little else of note. Poppies (papaver rhoeas) were flowering prolifically and their pollen attracts many insects. Seen in these photographs are a hover fly species (syrphus ribesii.) A common enough species, but good to get a reasonable photograph of the specimen. Also noted were the pollen beetles that can infest any flowering plant. They are particularly fond of the parsley family in May and June, where they mix happily with soldier beetles in the pollen full florets. As well as these creatures, a photo here of oedemera nobilis, another pollen beetle, common at this time of the year. The male is easily identified by its bulbous electric green coloured hind legs. The example depicted here is a female. The final photograph shows a small skipper butterfly. Tricky to identify from other skipper species, but the just noticeable red/orange clubs at the end of the antennae are diagnostic of this particular species.