On this day 6 July 2020

Large Skippers Butterflies * 

 So far I am having a great year discovering so many new insects at the park that I have never seen before, when the weather has been fine I have been popping down for a few hours. Once you start looking you discover more, every trip has produced a few new species.

This has caused a bit of a backlog  in recording on the blog, taking over 200 hundred photos a trip and going most days leads to awful lots of photos!

I am starting to get my eye in and naming the insects  is getting just that bit easier, with the help of Facebook and Nature Spot .

I have records going back to MAY! still to process, hopefully I will get through them all.

All these photos were taken on the 6 July, some of the insects were photographed along the stream* before you get to the park, but would still be found on the park. The boarders of the stream in the park is either to dark due to the trees or knee deep in nettles at this time of the year.

Common Grass Bug Nymph  (Leptopterna dolabrata)* 

To be named.* 

Nursery web spider ( Pisaura mirabilis)* 

Semaphore fly (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus)* 

Common red soldier beetle ( Rhagonycha fulva)* 

Opomyza germinationis agg. (Most Likley)* 

Lasioglossum sp

 The sweat bee genus Lasioglossum is the largest of all bee genera, containing over 1700 species in numerous subgenera worldwide. ... The Hemihalictus series is composed of species which are solitary, communal, semisocial, primitively eusocial, cleptoparasitic, or socially parasitic.

Order: Hymenoptera

Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described.

Robberfly...Leptogaster cylindrica

This had to be one of my favourite finds of the day.

Feet without pads. Hind femur is yellowish. Third antennal segment ends in bristle. Resembles a crane fly in flight. Leptogaster guttiventris is similar but has reddish hind femur.

Robberfly...Leptogaster cylindrica

Because I am spending more time stood still looking for insects, you get to see things you would have missed. It might mean nothing to most people but this also made my day (Little things) while photographing the tiny  Robber fly in the long grass, I could see the grass moving, at first I thought it might be a shrew/ Vole , disturbed them before in the grass. But it turned out to be a worm moving through the grass, not on the ground but rather through the middle. Something I had not expected to see.

Small tortoiseshell Butterfly

Red admiral Butterfly

Cuckoo bee (to be confirmed) 

Red-legged Shieldbug  (Pentatoma rufipes)

Pellucid Fly - Volucella pellucens

  First time recording this stunning fly..

Sometimes called the Pellucid Hoverfly, this is one of the largest flies in Britain. It has a striking ivory-white band across its middle and large dark spots on its wings

Hoverfly

Another great find and first time recorded was this Narcissus Bulb Fly - Merodon equestris

With ginger hairs, dark banding and a cream tail, the Narcissus bulb fly looks like a bumble bee, but is harmless to us. This mimicry helps to protect it from predators while it searches for nectar in gardens.(LINK)

Narcissus Bulb Fly - Merodon equestris

Cuckoo bee (To bee confirmed)

Honey bee

Hoverfly (To be named.)

Watched a Sparrow Hawk fly over, as you can just make out it has a bird in it's talons . We think it might have been a young Blackbird or Starling.

As far as my knowledge goes at the time most ID's should be correct, some have been ID on Facebook. If there is anything I have not named please feel free to let me know.