Ento Photo File

I went to Prince of Wales Park, Eldwick again today in search of Green Hairstreaks and managed to find three along with three Speckled Wood and four Peacock butterflies.

In between a spot of DIY, I spotted this hoverfly holding territory against all comers in my small front garden. I have identified it, from other pics I took, as Eristalis pertinax. This common hoverfly is widely distributed and can be seen wherever there are suitable flowers.

Lots of Eriocrania subpurpurella flying low around the oaks in the park this morning. The larvae of these small micro moths mine oak leaves but the adults do not feed...their only purpose is to reproduce.

I can't believe it's April before my first post of the year...mainly due to the weather but other commitments have also prevented me getting out and about with the camera. Not much insect activity in the Prince of Wales Park in Eldwick as the cold weather earlier in the year has definitely held back the Bilberry but there was the odd bumblebee about along with a very flighty Comma, which I eventually managed to pin down after several attempts.

I took this pic on Sunday of a recently emerged leaf beetle, Chrysomela aenea, on an Alder. It's larval skin can be seen next to it. It will change from purple to green as it matures.

These are the best 'in-flight' pics out of 250 or so I took of various pairs of Black Darters either flying in tandem or ovipositing. I now need to master the shutter speed on my D50 to get the wings in focus too.

I only managed to see four butterflies in total, two Speckled Woods, a Small Copper and a Wall.

Small Copper

Small Copper
Speckled Wood

Wall

Wall (underwing)

Well, a nice weekend at last. Managed to get up to Timble Ings today to see what's still about.
Here's some shots of Common Field Grasshopper Chorthippus brunneus.

Here's a hoverfly that I couldn't identify. It's a female Syrphus sp. and one of three look-a-like species. Telling apart Syrphus torvus, S. ribesii and S. vitripennis can be troublesome at times but not always impossible. Syrphus torvus, for instance is the only one that has hairy eyes. This is quite visible in males, females are less obvious, so you probably have to catch them and look into their eyes from various angles. The other two Syrphus species are hard to tell apart, especially the males. For females there is a clue though: if the thighs are blackish it is Syrphus vitripennis, the smallest of the three. If the thighs are yellow it is Syrphus ribesii, the biggest of the three. Unfortunately although I took six photos of this hoverfly, none showed the rear femur, so I don't know if it was black or yellow. The larvae of all species feed on aphids.

I popped down to Shipley Station Meadow today. It's probably one of the smallest nature reserves anywhere in the country. It's part of Shipley railway station and not much bigger than my house and garden. The females of the colony of Common Blue butterflies show more blue colouration than most other Yorkshire specimens. Unfortunately, I only managed to find one today but took almost 200 pics of her.....thank heavens for digital cameras.

There were also some hoverflies enjoying the sunshine, this one is the Drone Fly or Eristalis tenax.

This one is a Marmalade Fly Episyrphus balteatus.

I also managed to find this moth, Angle Shades Phlogophora meticulosa, sunning itself on a Hypericum.

I also popped into Rodley NR today to see how the dragonfly ponds were progressing. The 'phase one' ponds are maturing nicely but work on the 'phase two' pools has been delayed due to the awful weather we've had this summer.

Here's a pic of a female Brown Hawker Aeshna grandis ovipositing in one of the established ponds.

This Drone Fly Eristalis tenax was one of several hoverfly species I saw close to the ponds. The aquatic larvae of this fly are called 'rat-tailed maggots'.

Went to Shipley Station Meadow today to check out the rabbit damage and see what pics I could get despite the overcast conditions. I managed to find a couple of preoccupied Conopid flies. These flies parasitize bumblebees.