The Zone

I nipped to Croft Hill again this evening. No high expectations at it was around 18:30 by the time I got there so aside from plenty of bumblebees not much going on. Still masses of flowering Ragwort, and ridiculously still a relative lack of Cinnabar larvae - I've seen a bigger mass on a single plant down the lane in the last week than I've seen here.

Still, there was some gold amongst the bees - almost literally in terms of colour ....

Volucella zonaria - by far the biggest hover to be seen and one I love to see

I also spied what I was certain was a new fly for me, so no dithering trying to get an 'on-the-flower' shot, I needed to get it potted and check it at home. Sure enough, I was right ....

Physocephala rufipes

I also stumbled, almost literally, on a female Emperor in the grass. I grabbed a quick shot before it made a quick escape.

White Letter Day

It's not often that I'm tempted out to try and see a new butterfly; don't know why but despite being a keen moth recorder for 18+ years now, butterflies have never really got me that bothered. But I picked up news of one that I've not seen before just up the road at Huncote Embankment, and so I nipped over late this afternoon. Immediately found the spot and one of the butterflies, though some crappy record shots were about all I could manage ......

White-letter Hairstreak

To outline just how unbothered I am about butterflies, that's only my 44th British species.

I do like a good Marbled White though, and there were three or four knocking about on the plateau but catching up with one as they rested for seconds was harder work than it was probably worth!

Marbled White

Hoverflies were notable today, with Scaeva pyrastri in the garden and Volucella pellucens at the Embankment. Both of those evaded the camera, but I got these ....

Volucella zonaria - an absolute beast of a hoverfly

Episyrphus balteatus - several in the garden today

 Syrphus ribesii s.l. - female with predomninantly yellow hid femur

Syrphus vitripennis s.l. - female with part black hind femur

 Not a hover - Green Shieldbug nymph

The garden moths traps were back out last night, and there was a fairly decent catch. I'll post a few moth photos another day apart from this one - still enjoy seeing this in the garden, and still can't believe it was extinct as a British species just over a decade ago!

Small Ranunculus