Southern Marsh Orchids

Southern Marsh Orchids

Thursday, 9 June 2016

winged aphid ?????

Looking through the photos I've taken today and found this one. I have no idea what it is, and I've certainly not seen anything like it before. It is very small and is sitting on the stem of a scabious flower head. As it looks a bit like an aphid I searched for 'winged aphids' and was amazed to find that they are common in UK .........

Has anyone seen one? and can this be identified?


caddisflies

There were a lot of caddisflies attracted to my moth box last week. Amongst them were these three, two of which are 'longhorns' and the other was the biggest caddisfly I've ever seen at approx 30mm.

The wing bars on Mystacides longicornis make it easy to identify but the second could be either Mystacides azurea or M. nigra. I think the big beast could be Phyrganea striata or P. grandis, but whatever it is, it was probably the biggest thing in the moth box!




Tuesday, 7 June 2016

Llanerch Wood 05/06/2016

My walk around the ponds was interrupted by a very big flying object which took me by surprise at first as this is the first time I have seen one for a very long time. After watching it going through the process of collecting nesting material I finaly got a photo.


A very big Queen hornet, I estimated 4 to 5cm.
The sad thing is because of where it was I had to go and report it to the land owner and after showing him where it was he said that it would more than likely not be there the next time I visit.

Sunday, 5 June 2016

Cranefly

While investigating a tiny outlier of VC41, in the otherwise staunchly VC42 square SN9908, I came across this rather attractive Cranefly, with a very distinctive pattern on its wings. The habitat was slightly rank marshy grassland, close to forestry, at 380m ASL. Despite its apparently distinctive markings, I have been unable to find it anywhere online, so any suggestions will be welcome.








Tuesday, 31 May 2016

Creigiau - garden hoverflies

A couple of new hoverflies for the garden - Rhingia campestris in the flower beds and Anthogramma pedissequum ( I think ) in the nettle patch.



Sunday, 15 May 2016

Bees

Two bees yesterday, a Common Carder Bee (?) in the garden in Creigiau and a possible Ashy Mining Bee (Andrena cineraria) on the path near the top of Mynydd Machen. Never seen the latter before so would appreciate confirmation/correction.





Friday, 13 May 2016

Llanerch

Took a short stroll around the ponds in Llanerch Woods yesterday morning. Not too much around ... but I didn't have much time to look.

Did see some Alder Flies and lots of patches of their eggs

and also quite a lot of these leaf beetles - could they be Plateumaris sericera?