A male Dark-edged Bee-fly feeding from a grape hyacinth flower. He is a large fly with a rounded body covered in mid-brown hair, and a hairy face. He has long, thin legs and a very long proboscis, which he holds out in front like a narwhal's tusk. He has brown eyes, which meet each other on top of his head, and his wings have a dark, scalloped mark along the leading edge.

My first Dark-edged Bee-fly of the year, a week earlier than last year's.
@uk-soldierflies.bsky.social
#insects #invertebrates #Bombyliusmajor #DarkEdgedBeeFly #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders #InsectThursday #beeflywatch

A Garden Spider on her web, holding the partly wrapped body of a Common Wasp she has caught. She is a large orange-brown spider with small white patches on her back forming a kind of cross shape, and legs ringed in brown and fawn.

A Garden Spider with her packed lunch.

#arachtober #invertebrates #arachnids #spider #GardenSpider #AraneusDiadematus #predation #CommonWasp #VespulaVulgaris #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A male Southern Hawker clings to a quince tree leaf. He is a large dragonfly, and here he is shot in close-up, with only his head and thorax, his right-hand legs, and the tops of his wings in the frame. His face is yellow, with some dark markings that are unique to individual dragonflies. His eyes are bright blue in the centre, with brown along their forward edges, yellow below and behind, and green above. His thorax is brown, with two thick green-yellow stripes running down the front (colloquially known as "headlights", and unique to this species among UK dragonflies), and two running diagonally along each side. There are also a series of green-yellow markings on the top of his thorax, and around the insertions of his wings.

Beauty spot:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/341654...

#insects #invertebrates #odonata #dragonfly #SouthernHawker #AeshnaCyanea #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A juvenile Grey Heron, photographed in right profile, with only its head and neck and the top of its back and wings in shot. It's a large blue-grey bird with black and white markings on its breast, a white chin, and the beginnings of black plumes beginning to grow from the back of its head. Its bill is black above and orange below, and in it the Heron is holding a Migrant Hawker dragonfly it has caught. The dragonfly's wings are sticking out on either side of the bird's bill, and its head, with blue eyes, one foreleg and part of its body can just be seen in the narrow opening between the jaws.

Predation:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/341602...

#birds #UKBirds #BritishBirds #GreyHeron #ArdeaCinerea #birding #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography 🪶 #predation #StratfordUponAvon #insects #invertebrates #odonata #dragonfly #MigrantHawker #AeshnaMixta #UKWildlife #NatureWriting #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A European Hornet feeding on ivy. This is a fresh queen, feeding up before winter hibernation. She's about 3cm long, with a yellow head, read forehead, red C-shaped eyes, a red-brown thorax and waist, and a mainly yellow abdomen, patterned in brown. Her wings are brown, her antennae are pinkish-red, and her legs are red-brown.

A female Hornet Hoverfly, feeding on ivy. Like the Hornet she mimics, this hoverfly has a yellow face, red eyes, a red-brown thorax and scutellum, and a yellow abdomen striped in brown black. Her wings are brown, and she has red-brown legs. She's smaller than the Hornet, at about 2cm long, but she's still an impressive insect.

Batesian mimickry: a European Hornet, heavily armed at both ends, and its doppelgänger, the entirely harmless Hornet Hoverfly.
#insects #invertebrates #hornet #VespaCrabro #HornetHoverfly #VolucellaZonaria #ivy #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A male Migrant Hawker in flight, shot in profile against a dark background, the dragonfly angled from the top right of the frame towards the bottom left. He is a medium-sized dragonfly with a white face, blue eyes, a brown thorax with two broad diagonal yellow stripes on the side, and a mosaic patterned blue and black abdomen.

Spirit animal:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/341438...

#insects #invertebrates #odonata #dragonfly #MigrantHawker #AeshnaMixta #StratfordUponAvon #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A Hummingbird Hawkmoth feeding from a patch of red valerian. This is a fairly large brown moth, with a white chin, pale underparts, and mosaic patches of cream, white, and black towards the rear of its body. Its forewings are brown with wavy black lines across them, and its hind wings are vivid orange. It has long black antennae, and an extremely long, black tongue, which allows it to feed from tube-shaped flowers while hovering above them.

A Hummingbird Hawkmoth on red valerian in my Worcestershire garden.
#insects #invertebrates #moth #HummingbirdHawkmoth #MacroglossumStellatarum #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A male Migrant Hawker in flight, shot in profile, the dragonfly angled from the top right of the frame towards the bottom left. He is a medium-sized dragonfly with a white face, blue eyes, a brown thorax with two broad diagonal yellow stripes on the side, and a mosaic patterned blue and black abdomen.

A male Migrant Hawker over a reed bed in the River Avon at Stratford.
#insects #invertebrates #odonata #dragonfly #MigrantHawker #AeshnaMixta #StratfordUponAvon #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A Larch Ladybird, photographed on the arm of a wooden bench. It's a small beetle, 4-5mm long, with mid-brown, slightly spotty wing cases. There's a darker, smudgy line towards the back of each wing case, and another one along their junction. Its pronotum is pale, with a dark brown mark that vaguely resembles a smudgy 'M' or 'W'. Its face is black and white, its eyes are black, and its legs and antennae are brown.

Larch Ladybird:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/341107...

#insects #invertebrates #beetle #ladybird #LarchLadybird #AphidectaObliterata #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A Red-legged Shieldbug stands on a wet heuchera leaf after a rain shower. The bug is large, with extended angular "shoulders". It's mainly a deep bronzy brown colour, but it has an orange spot at the tip of its scutellum, and the connexivum (the flattened edge of the abdomen) is chequered in cream and dark blue. Its legs are a deep orangey red, with tiny black spots. The leaf is a deep violet colour.

Red-legged Shieldbug in the rain.
#insects #invertebrates #bug #shieldbug #RedLeggedShieldbug #PentatomaRufipes #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A female Southern Hawker hangs from a spent flower of a buddleja bush. She's a large dragonfly with a mosaic pattern of brown and apple green markings all over her body. Her face is yellow, and her eyes are yellow below and greeny-brown above, with a bright blue marking across the junction of the upper and lower zones. She's been shot in close-up, with only her head, legs, thorax, and the first section of her abdomen clearly visible, along with the bases of her wings, which are clear.

Model:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/341070...

#insects #invertebrates #odonata #dragonfly #SouthernHawker #AeshnaCyanea #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A pair of Migrant Hawkers hang from a reed in the mating wheel position. They are medium-sized dragonflies. The female is mosaic patterned in brown, black and yellow, and has brown and greeny yellow eyes. The male has similar patterning, but on his abdomen most of the yellow markings are replaced by blue ones, and his eyes are blue and brown.

Love in the afternoon
www.blipfoto.com/entry/340635...

#insects #invertebrates #odonata #dragonfly #MigrantHawker #AeshnaMixta #copulation #MatingWheel #BugPorn #BugSex #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders #MacroMonday

A female Willow Emerald Damselfly, shot in left profile, clinging to a lichen-covered branch. She is mostly metallic green and gold, but she has some pale matte yellow markings at the base of the sides of her thorax, and the interlocking spur shape this pale yellow forms with the metallic green above it is diagnostic of the species. Her wings are clear, with pale orange wing spots her legs are black with longitudinal buff stripes, and her eyes are deep red above, shading down to greeny yellow below.

Tick:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/340600...

#insects #invertebrates #odonata #damselfly #WillowEmeraldDamselfly #ChalcolestesViridis #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #StingsNWings #SmallWonders #stunday

A Migrant Hawker hovering, angled towards the camera from the top left of the frame, against a diffused background of dark green leaves. He is a medium-large dragonfly, with a 2-tone face (yellow above and white below), blue eyes, a brown thorax with yellow markings on the shoulders and the sides, and a blue, brown and black, mosaic-patterned abdomen. His wings, which are clear with brown wings spots, are pictured in the counter-stroking position - all are held out at 45° to his body so that they form an X shape.

A hovering Migrant Hawker in a reed bed alongside the River Avon at Stratford-upon-Avon.
#insects #invertebrates #odonata #dragonfly #MigrantHawker #AeshnaMixta #flight #StratfordUponAvon #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders #InsectThursday

A male Common Darter in obelisk pose on top of a post. He's a small red dragonfly with diagonal red and yellow panels along the sides of his thorax, red eyes, red wing spots, and cream stripes along his otherwise black legs. The obelisk pose involves a kind of handstand, with the head down and the abdomen pointing upwards at a very steep angle towards the sun. It allows the dragonfly to control its temperature by reducing the surface area of its body on which direct sunlight is falling.

A Common Darter obelisking, to reduce the area of his body that has direct sunlight falling on it and control his temperature.
#insects #invertebrates #odonata #dragonfly #CommonDarter #SympetrumStriolatum #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders #InsectThursday

A male Common Darter perches at the end of a reed above a pond. He is a small red dragonfly with a brown face and red-brown eyes. His brown thorax has bright red markings at the insertions of his wings, and alternate diagonal yellow and red stripes (2 of each) along the sides. His wings are clear with dark red wing spots. In this image his head is tipped back, as he looks up at the sky to check for danger.

A male Common Darter, checking the sky for danger.
#insects #invertebrates #odonata #dragonfly #CommonDarter #SympetrumStriolatum #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders #MacroMonday

A male Brown Hawker hangs from a blackberry in a bramble hedge. He's a large brown dragonfly with small blue markings at the bases of his wings and the top of his abdomen, and within his otherwise brown eyes. He is dorsal side on to the camera, which means that the diagonal yellow flashes on the sides of his thorax can only just be glimpsed. He has amber-coloured wings

A male Brown Hawker, well camouflaged among the brambles along the river bank at Stratford-upon-Avon.

#insects #invertebrates #odonata #dragonfly #BrownHawker #AeshnaGrandis #StratfordUponAvon #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A male Willow Emerald Damselfly hangs from a twig of an elder tree with his wings spread in an inverted 'V', brightly sunlit against a dark background, He is a very slender, dark metallic green damselfly, with paler yellow-green markings on the sides of his thorax, and faint yellow-green stripes marking the junctions of his abdominal segments. His anal appendages are white, and his wing spots are a pale buff colour.

A male Willow Emerald Damselfly - a relatively new coloniser of the UK. This is the first specimen I've found in east Worcestershire.
#insects #invertebrates #Odonata #damselfly #WillowEmeraldDamselfly #ChalcolestesViridis #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A female Clouded Yellow butterfly feeds on red clover, among tangled vegetation. The upper surfaces of her wings are deep golden yellow, with a single brown spot on each forewing, and they have a broad brown border patterned with yellow spots. Her body is pale lemon yellow, and her head and antennae are flushed pink. She is holding her body in a defensive posture with her abdomen raised, as a signal to a nearby male that she will not mate with him.

Going for gold:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/339772...

#insects #invertebrates #butterfly #CloudedYellow #ColiasCroceus #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A Tiger Hoverfly, or Sun Fly, stands on a leaf beside a pond. He is yellow and black - his thorax has longitudinal yellow and black stripes, and his abdomen has paired transverse yellow markings on a black ground. His legs are also patterned in yellow and black, and his eyes are very dark red.

Sun lover:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/339698...

#insects #invertebrates #hoverfly #SunFly #TigerHoverfly #HelophilusPendulus #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A female Banded Demoiselle lies on her side on the surface of a river, partly submerged, probing beneath the water for suitable vegetation into which to lay her eggs. She is a large, metallic green damselfly with green wings. Her male partner, who is dark metallic blue with a broad blue band across his wings, is standing on top of her partly-submerged body to ensure that no other male can seize and mate with her before she has laid the eggs he fertilized.

Supervision:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/339683...

#insects #invertebrates #odonata #damselfly #BandedDemoiselle #CalopteryxSplendens #oviposition #CleevePriorMill #RiverAvon #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

An Eyed Ladybird, photographed on a chestnut tree leaf. This is the UK's largest ladybird, averaging 9mm in length. It's a highly variable species, but this specimen is typical. Its wing cases have fifteen cream-edged black spots on a russet background, and its pronotum is boldly marked in black and white. It has black legs. It mainly lives in conifers (this one was found in a cypress tree), and eats aphids.

Eyed Ladybird:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/339663...

#insects #invertebrates #beetle #ladybird #ladybug #EyedLadybird #AnatisOcellata #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A male Keeled Skimmer rests among vegetation at the edge of a lake. He is a medium sized dragonfly, about 4cm long, and very slender. His abdomen is blue (still showing a little of his immature ochre colouring at the base), his thorax is brown with pale shoulder stripes, and his eyes are grey-blue. His wings are clear, with orange wing spots. He is holding onto a dead stem which is angled from the bottom centre left of the image up towards the top right. In the background are green and brown leaves and bright yellow flowers.

Cerulean:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/339550...

#insects #invertebrates #odonata #dragonfly #KeeledSkimmer #OrthetrumCoerulescens #woorgreens #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A male Emperor in flight over a pond. He is a large dragonfly with a yellow face, blue and yellow eyes, an apple green thorax and a mid blue abdomen with black markings. He is flying from left to right of the image, the background of which is a diffuse mosaic of greens and browns from the vegetation on the surface of the pond.

A female Emperor ovipositing into floating pond weed on the surface of a pond. She is a large dragonfly with an apple green thorax, green and yellow eyes, an aqua blue face, and aqua blue and brown markings on her abdomen.

Mum and Dad:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/339409...

#insects #invertebrates #odonata #dragonfly #emperor #AnaxImperator #flight #oviposition #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders #MacroMonday #BritishDragonflySociety #pondwatch

A tiny parasitoid wasp, Ormyrus nitidulus, climbs a pond sedge leaf in a garden pond. She is about 5mm long, with a hunched posture and a sharply pointed end to the abdomen. She is metallic blue, blue-green, and gold, with brilliant red eyes, and strongly embossed and patterned gastric tergites. Her larvae parasitise the larvae of the wasp responsible for Knopper galls in English oak trees.

A tiny parasitoid wasp, Ormyrus nitidulus, climbs a pond sedge leaf in a garden pond. She is about 5mm long, with a hunched posture and a sharply pointed end to the abdomen. She is metallic blue, blue-green, and gold, with brilliant red eyes, and strongly embossed and patterned gastric tergites. Her larvae parasitise the larvae of the wasp responsible for Knopper galls in English oak trees.

Dangerous:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/339363...

#insects #invertebrates #wasp #ChalcidWasp #ParasitoidWasp #OrmyrusNitidulus #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders #MacroMonday

An Emperor dragonfly hangs from a dock plant, which is untidy and running to seed. He is a large dragonfly, with a pale face, blue-green eyes, a green thorax and a blue abdomen with a broad black line running down the centre. The blue of his eyes and abdomen contrasts with the brown leaves and seeds of the plant. In the background of the image, behind the dock, is diffuse greenery.

His Maj:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/339332...

#insects #invertebrates #Odonata #dragonfly #Emperor #AnaxImperator #RiverAvon #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders #MacroMonday #BritishDragonflySociety

A Small Copper butterfly feeds from a cluster of deep purple heliotrope flowers, against a pale background. It has bright orange forewings with dark brown spots and a thick, dark brown margin, and dark brown hindwings that are banded with orange. The underside of its forewing is a paler version of the upper side, with the dark spots additionally ringed in white. The underside of its hindwing is buff-coloured, with a scattering of small dark spots. Its wingspan is around 3cm.

Small Copper:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/339259...

#insects #invertebrates #butterfly #SmallCopper #LycaenaPhlaeas #heliotrope #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A female Eupeodes corollae hoverfly rests on the vivid red bloom of a crocosmia 'Lucifer' against a dark green background. She is a small hoverfly, about 8mm in length. Her abdomen is black, with three pairs of creamy, comma-shaped markings extending towards the centre line from the margins. Her thorax is brassy, her eyes are red, and her face is pale. This hoverfly doesn't really have a common name in the UK, but it's a migratory species whose larvae are voracious eaters of aphids, and one source calls it the Migrant Aphideater.

Macro mayhem:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/339223...

#insects #invertebrates #hoverfly #EupeodesCorollae #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A male Red-tailed Bumblebee feeds from a yellow and red gaillardia flower. The bee is black, with a yellow collar, a broad red tail and a neat yellow moustache.

A male Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) toning perfectly with a pot of gaillardia. I love his little yellow moustache.

#insects #invertebrates #bee #bumblebee #RedTailedBumblebee #BombusLapidarius #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A Scarce Chaser rests on the end of a decaying iris leaf, above a background of brown river water. He is a medium-sized dragonfly with a chalky blue abdomen and black tail, a black thorax, pale blue eyes and a shiny black face.

Successful:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/339081...

#insects #invertebrates #odonata #dragonfly #ScarceChaser #LibellulaFulva #StratfordUponAvon #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders