Creigiau this afternoon

Attracted into the garden this afternoon by the first ever visit of a Large Red Damselfly, but I was soon distracted by the activity in one of the raised beds. Black ants and Speckled Bush Cricket nymphs were everywhere

and these were soon joined by brief visits from a Syrphus hoverfly, probably Eupeodes corolla. 

I struggled to get some pictures of a Planthopper (approx 3mm) - a later look at ‘British Bugs’ suggested that this strange looking beastie was a member of the Delphacidae family, possibly one of the Javesella sp..

A speck on a leaf turned out to be a tiny (approx. 1mm) brown bug – no idea what this was, 

or where to start looking, but the icing on the cake was a visit from a couple of Picture-winged Flies. Very twitchy and difficult to get a good view in the camera but the image taken is almost identical to one on ‘NatureSpot’ of Tephritis neesii.

The black ants are everywhere and I regularly see Speckled Bush Crickets through the summer and autumn, but this was the first time I’ve seen the others - a very pleasant hour in the garden.