Some insects in our garden undergrowth (it's a jungle out there!)
An anxious cabbage white butterfly, checking that the coast is clear. Beautiful eyes.
A marmalade hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus, hanging in the air in a sun fleck.
Amazing eyes of a much larger hoverfly Volucella pellucens , feeding on some leeks that we never ate and have now flowered - the big, spherical flower heads are very popular with bees and hoverflies.
Volucella pellucens is a hoverfly that breeds inside wasp nests........
........... and might even have laid eggs in the nest of this wasp, that was hunting for small insects on dill umbels.
This froghopper was on the same umbel as the wasp but well beyond its reach, tucked in amongst the 'spokes' of the dill's umbrella-shaped inflorescence.
Posts
Nice macro shots Phil. I presume YOU are the Mr Gates on Radio 4's A Guide To Garden Wildlife with the excellent Brett Westwood. Busy catching up with it on i player. Fine stuff. There's always something to learn.
ReplyDeleteWe recorded the programmes in a garden near Bristol that had brimstone and holly blue butterflies and for a while I was quite jealous - until I got stuck in traffic down there (you wouldn't believe how bad it is) - then I couldn't wait to get back up here, to the wide open spaces,the dales and the NE coast. It's grim down south. Couldn't find a Greggs down there either...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNo stotties down here, I'm afraid! Those macro images are superb. The marmalade hoverfly particularly grabbed my attention.
ReplyDeleteMmmm, maybe there's an export market for stotties, then......
Delete