Insects and Spiders

Some great images there - I don't have an Instagram account but if I did I'd give them all likes!

Macro instagram seems weirdly positive/useful compared to most of the rest of instagram. Have got some helpful technical advice just by asking questions in comments.
Had never appreciated quite how much work goes into the really good photos. I get the impression a lot of the serious photographers save up images over the summer and do all the stacking/processing in the winter. Something I don't think I have the patience for.

Seen on an Alder catkin:
Seems too long for a (common) shield bug.

1 Attachment

A couple of dragonflies and a pale tussock moth catapillar, yesterday. A common hawker and a common darter, i think.

3 Attachments

Some kind of miridae / plant bug? Lygus pratensis looks like a candidate, but there’s loads of these little buggers that look extremely similar.

Thanks for the guidance,
the cranked antennae maybe suggest this:
https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Miridae/pantilius_tunicatus.html

Nice find - looks like a good call. Naturespot says that "this bug may be found on the lower branches of Hazel, Alder and Birch" https://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/pantilius-tunicatus.

Thanks, it was seen on Sunday the 25th of September, another persuading factor.

What's this? 6 legs, long tail, quite a beautiful fuzzy iridescent green in the right light.

2 Attachments

Is that a Silverfish?

Too big for a silverfish I think. About 20mm long in total.

No ID to offer,
but,
if you can find a few more to get a breeding colony,
you may well have a handy protein supplement to see you & yours through this Winter.

How is that Citizen Science experiment of keeping silverfish in a box with an old fluorescent watch going?

There were a few hoverflies out today enjoying the Ivy nectar in the sunshine between the showers. This one is a female Syrphus ribesii

1 Attachment

Plenty of spiders this afternoon. First up two Nursery Web Spiders (Pisaura mirabilis)

2 Attachments

and one of the Crab Spiders, I think it's the Red Crab Spider (Xysticus lanio)

1 Attachment

Love that pic

Thanks!

It was a good day for taking photos of insects: no wind to speak of and unseasonably warm sunshine.

First one up is a Spotted Firebug AKA the Cinnamon Bug or Black and Red Squashbug (Corizus hyoscyami)

1 Attachment

Next up is a leafhopper. This one is Empoasca decipeins. Like many true bugs they are sap suckers. It's taking a dink from the leaf of Carex, grass-like plants typical of English wetlands, using its piercing, straw-like rostrum.

1 Attachment

Spotted this on a ride today (Lanzarote) a large (around 10cm) Desert Locust - Schistocerca gregaria

The resilience and hardiness of nature is amazing. It's the middle of winter, less than two weeks to the shortest day of the year, and I was out for a walk in a local wood yesterday, with frozen ground in frost hollows that have been below freezing for a few days now and found this beauty sheltering among the branches of a fir tree. Its a Juniper Shieldbug (Cyphostethus tristriatus).

1 Attachment

Amazing pics as usual.

What the fuck is this shit?

(Not my pic) ☹️

1 Attachment

@Ordinata I've never seen one of those before - definitely weird!

iNaturalist AI image recognition suggests it's a Wrap-around Spider (Genus Dolophones) https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/418954-Dolophones possibly Dolophones conifera . They're endemic to Australia apparently https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/creatura-blog/2018/07/wrap-around-spider/.

Don't know why but a spiders carapace / thorax is so commanding / sketchy.

Aragog stylez