Bright and dry.
An Andrena sp. solitary bee on Hogweed.
The opening of Hogweed usually leads to more opportunities for insect pictures.
Perhaps my best picture, and certainly one of my favourites. This shows the ichneumon from Friday (now identified as Lissonota catenator) laying eggs into the host which is deep inside Cocksfoot Grass seedheads. Notice the antennae being used to accurately pinpoint the position of the host.
In order for the host to be sufficiently large it will have to grow significantly. Probably the moth Apamea crenata.
Two grasses in flower. False Oat Grass - Arrhenatherum elatius - on the left and Crested Dogstail - Cynosurus cristatus - on the right.
Two butterflies. Large White and a second generation Speckled Wood.
My first reaction was 'Leucozona glaucia' (the male can have white tergites instead of blue), but something was nagging at me. When I got back to the computer I noticed that the scutellum is black. That makes it Leucozona laternaria: new to the site.
Dappled sunlight is all very well, but it certainly upsets the exposure sensor on the camera. Enchanters Nightshade - Circaea lutetiana.
Another new hoverfly, but I only got a couple of shots into the sun, so an id is unlikely. About 12mm long. Maybe Orthonevra nobilis.
This looks to be an Eristalis hoverfly, but surely it has too much yellow on tergites 2 and 3. It's Myathropa florea, which is described as "reminiscent of a bright Eristalis". New to the site.
I found this Silverhorn Caddis in exactly the same spot as I found it last year.
Mystacides azurea.
Male (r) and female(l) Picture-wing flies. These Tephritids lay their eggs on composite flower heads, so the Creeping Thistle looks a likely target.
I watched this little Coal-tit as it followed its parent through the Oak tree, peeping all the while.
A shot of the Creeping Cinquefoil from the verge. Potentilla reptans.
And a gall on Lime. Contarinia tiliarum - a Cecid fly.