Eric & Lesley's Wildlife Blog

Pretty in Pink

22/8/2019

Last month we travelled to the southern counties of England on the lookout for insects including some rarer ones. At Kingcombe it was moth trapping along with outings for butterflies, We failed on Purple Emperor but had success with Southern, and Scarce Blue-tailed, Damselflies as well as commoner species like Gatekeeper. It was hot but not suffocatingly so.
In the New Forest we were very pleased to see Nightjar hawking at sunset.
This picture is of a female Marbled White against the pink of Rosebay Willowherb.

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Giving A Good Impression

25/6/2019

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Come the summer months I spend less time with birds and, consequently, more with beasties. I enjoy a walk with a camera, looking down instead of up and ahead. If I find something I take a picture and then try to identify it. In past times this was tough but now it is a bit easier with so much (and better quality) reference material.
A couple of day ago I took this picture. At the time I wondered if it was a hoverfly rather than a bumble bee. It is. This is Volucella bombylans, a hoverfly that mimics a Bumble Bee. There are two versions of this species for two different hosts. The white tip on the abdomen indicates this one mimics the White-tailed Bumble Bee, Bombus lucorum. This gives it a degree of protection from predators since Bumble Bees sting. However this species of Hoverfly also begins life in a Bumble bee nest so the association is much tighter. Endlessly fascinating.

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Pretty in Pink

Giving A Good Impression

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