Insects at Whixall Moss

In the afternoon at Whixall, most of the group on the RPS outing concentrated on the abundant wildlife around the pools by the canal at Whixall. My highlight was this Blue Shieldbug laying eggs on a piece of roof felting used as a ground shelter for reptiles etc. 

Dragonfly Survey at Paxton Pits

 Yesterday was our monthly Dragonfly and Butterfly survey at Paxton Pits. Scarce Chasers (1,2) and Norfolk Hawkers (3) were the most numerous of the Dragonfly species followed by Four-spotted Chasers (4) with occasional Emperors (5) and Black-tailed Skimmers (6). 'Blue' damselflies were too numerous to count so estimates of numbers were recorded - all three species present (just Common shown in various coupled positions)  plus Red-eyed (11). Lots of Banded Demoiselles.  Butterflies on the other hand were noticeably scarce - occasional Brimstone, Small Heath and a couple of other species. Finshing with a Cuckoo

Four-spotted chasers Emerging from Our Pond

I missed the first 3 or 4 emergences from the pond this year, though one later visited the pond most days. So I was pleased to find two yesterday morning and cover the stages showing just escaped from the larval case to just beginning to colour up on the wings.

Damselfly and Dragonfly Emergence Begins

Our first emergences from the pond yesterday with several Large Red Damselflies and two Four-spot Chasers. I wonder if we will get the 100 Dragonflies we managed last year. Garden is also full of Hairy Shield Bugs at the moment and Green Fly.

Four-spotted chaser

A visit to Wicken Fen provided an opportunity to photograph a Four-Spotted Chaser that had just emerged from its larval case. I used various lens combinations to see what worked best. In each of the pairs, the first is the 50 macro lens with converter to give life size and with a ringflash. The second is the 100-400mm with a 25mm extension tube used at 400mm end in second photo and 100 end in fourth.