Insects and Spiders

Deleted reply to wrong post, d'oh.

Beautiful Demoiselle, White Legged Damselfly, Scorpion Fly.

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Nursery Web Spider guarding the nursery, a Large Skipper, and the last one is an Azure Damselfly, I think. Something like 90% of them are actually green.

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The scarlet tiger moths have arrived here.

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Wow - thanks for the lesson! These were in west Suffolk. I imagine you need a lot of them to make a mouthful.

Ah my pleasure! Here is a small video I found about them ... https://youtu.be/LHW2LO3CZfE

Can I sneak some millipedes in here?

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I like the way this one looks like it's levitating.

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Not the best picture from my phone but I assume this is some sort of spider nest or something

Yep you can see she’s guarding her egg sac (big white ball beneath her).

Also anybody any good at IDing bush crickets? Girlfriend’s family found this lady cricket in Vienna. Most likely Eupholidoptera but not able to id species.

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Cream line on lowest edge of thorax protector (?) Suggests something like Roesel's Bush cricket:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roesel's_bush-cricket

Fierce ovipositor.

That’s what I initially thought but striations on the hind legs mean it’s unlikely I think.

Turns out there’s a lot of very similar looking European bush crickets which makes determining species tricky as I’m guessing that a lot of them have variable colour morphs.

https://www.grasshoppersofeurope.com/linnaeus_ng/app/views/species/nsr_taxon.php?id=2225

What a beauty!

From the h’allotment yesterday evening
Biggest I’ve seen in ages

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Cockchafers spotted on Blackheath.

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Is that an Infestation?

Light isn't even on yet ffs

Are they the same red mites you see (or at least I did when I was a kid!) on brick walls?

I really don't know much at all about Crickets and you're right that there are quite a few similar European species but I think it might be Eupholidoptera schmidti AKA Schmidt's Marbled Bush-Cricket - see for example https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/509455-Eupholidoptera-schmidti

Saw my first Hummingbird Hawkmoth (Macroglossum stellatarum) of the year yesterday. Unfortunately didn't have my camera with me at the time but later in the day I did have a camera when I saw this Eyed Hawk-moth (Smerinthus ocellata).

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and eventually ... I managed to get some photos of the Hummingbird Hawkmoth today

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Wow - that is breathtaking.

Ta! An infuriatingly impossible insect to photo - it just doesn't stay still - but just such a great creature. It's a long distance migrant from southern Europe. This year seems to be a particularly good year for them.

What a picture

Superb shot! And on a orchid to boot!