Birds, Chess, Coleoptera, Flora, Moths, R&I, Syrphidae, Stratiomyidae et al.
Slowly rewilding Herts garden & trying to photograph its fauna & flora.
Simon Knott
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Three species of Volucella enjoying Bramble (Rubus sp.) today in Bengeo garden: V.zonaria ♂, V.inflata ♀+♂ & V.pellucens ♀. Magnificent hoverflies. @flygirlnhm.bsky.social
Simon Knott
Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus) ♂ today in Bengeo garden. @bc-hertsmiddx.bsky.social
Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) ♀ today in Bengeo garden. @britishdragonflies.bsky.social
Chrysops caecutiens ♀ today in Bengeo garden. Females are stunning but they have one objective which is to bite your head & neck. @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social #SplayedDeerfly
Euglenes oculatus today in Bengeo garden, nationally scarce ant-like leaf beetle that develops in red-rotten heartwood of oaks.
Normally I see this species at night attracted to light, this one however flew onto my shirt in broad daylight. @nottscoleoptera.bsky.social #Aderidae #saproxylic
Ablattaria laevigata adult (today) & larva (Wednesday) on lawn in Bengeo garden. This scarce snail-killing silphid beetle requires short turf & free-draining soils.
Present in Hertford area but still remarkable that this flightless species has been able to colonise lawn. @nottscoleoptera.bsky.social
Megastigmus aculeatus ♀ today in Bengeo garden, attractive torymid wasp associated with Roses. @arnoldtortoise.bsky.social #RoseSeedChalcid
Creeping Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans) & Hedge Bedstraw (Galium album) this weekend in Bengeo garden, Herts. Both have naturally colonised lawn here. #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social
Teneral Physocephala rufipes ♂ found today on flowerbed wall in Bengeo garden, fascinating then to watch it change to its full adult colour over next hour.
P.rufipes is most wasp-like of conopid parasitoid flies. @flygirlnhm.bsky.social
Goniglossum wiedemanni mating pair on its host plant White Bryony (Bryonia dioica) today in Bengeo garden. Scarce picture-winged fly that is forever being hunted by its braconid parasitoid Utetes testaceus. @flygirlnhm.bsky.social
