Linacre Insects -28th July 2016

Yesterday, while I was down at Linacre looking at the birds. I also spent some time photographing some of the insect and plant life to be found at this site. All these records refer to species that I spotted on the banks of the middle and top reservoirs in a 2 hour period. This area is very good for insects, especially this year, because the grass there has been left uncut, which has allowed a good number of flowers and grasses to grow. I'm not an expert on flowers, but I recognised knapweeds, Betony, Cow Parsley, clovers, plantains, Harebells and Hawkbit, amongst the grasses.

Knapweeds

Betony

The most obvious insects on site are, of course, the butterflies. This year doesn't appear to be great for butterflies, but I still managed to spot the following species: Meadow Brown (10+), Large White (1), Comma (1) Green-veined White (1) and Small Tortoiseshell (1).

Meadow Brown on knapweed

Comma

Small Tortoiseshell

One species of damselfly; Common Blue Damselfly, and 1 species of dragonfly; Brown Hawker, were seen. The hawker was flying and feeding over the banks, while the damselflies, including young ones (tenerals), adults and pairs "in tandem" were all over!!

Common Blue Damselflies "in tandem"

The final two group of insects, the hoverflies and bumblebees, were also present in good numbers. I identified Red-tailed, White-tailed and Common Carder Bumblebees.

The hoverflies are a bit trickier(!), but I think I managed to identify five different species, none of which have English names. There were: Eristalsis pertinax, Eristalsis tenax, Eristalsis horticola (known collectively as Drone Flies), Myathropa florea and a Syrphus species, possibly Syrphus ribessi. Please let me know if you think otherwise.

Eristalsis pertinax

Eristalsis tenax

Eristalsis horticola

Myathropa florea

Syrphus ribesii

Hopefully, these photos will inspire you to stop and have a look at the many hoverfly species that can be found on a sunny day. If you would like a good field guide, have a look at this one here, it's very informative, with super photos and explanations about the different species.

Shieldbugs, Flies, Grasshoppers and Hoverflies

Whilst ringing at Linacre yesterday the sun came out and I spent some time searching out some of the insects with Luke, my nephew. Together we found 3 shieldbug species, 3 hoverfly species, a new fly species and a couple of Field Grasshoppers. The shieldbugs were new records for me at Linacre, as was the grasshopper and one of the hoverflies. Lovely!!!

The Field Grasshopper is a common, widespread species throughout Britain (see here for details), but this is the first time I've managed to see and identify one at Linacre.

Field Grasshopper

 

 We also spotted this beauty, a Noon Fly (Mesembrina meridiana) Again, this is a common species, but my first record. More details here.

 

Noon Fly

 

 The shieldbugs were all new to me at Linacre. Here's the first one, the Common Green Shieldbug. The top photo shows the adult, and the bottom photo shows a "fourth instar" nymph. Apparently, young shieldbugs moult several times before they become adults and each time they moult, they look different. See here for pictures of the different moults.

 

Adult Green Shieldbug

Young Green Shieldbug

 

Another species we saw was the Bronze Shieldbug. This time I'm sure this individual is a "final instar nymph". See here for more images.

Bronze Shieldbug

 

The final shieldbug was a Hairy Shieldbug, another common and widespread species, but my first at Linacre. See here for more details.

 

Hairy Shieldbug

 

The hoverflies were a Drone Fly species (Eristalsis pertinax), a Helophilus species, most likely Helophilus pendulus and a Syrphus species. The Syrphus species is particularly tricky to identify as there are 3 very similar species that can only be separated under good magnification. Unfortunately I didn't have a hand lens with me and the hoverfly wouldn't sit still!

 

Drone Fly

Helophilus pendulus

Syrphus sp