Occasional rain showers.
I saw what looked like a mis-shapen Knapweed bud and even as I approached I couldn't resolve the mass. Then I touched the stem and this enormous Common Garden Spider stood up and un-hid itself.
Notice the eyes in the second image.
Two shots of a micromoth - Eucosma cana - on Knapweed. A larger specimen at about 12mm long.
I've been waiting for this Ichneumonid to turn up. At the start of the summer I found that what I thought was this Ichneumon was in fact a Sawfly. Ichneumons are known to converge on a small number of colour patterns, but this shows that Ichneumons and Sawflies do it, too. Fascinating: right down to the dots on the antennae. The Sawfly on June 10th is the comparison.
"But how do you know it's a Sawfly/Ichneumon?" I hear you cry. The most solid differentiator is the join between the abdomen and the thorax. In an Ichneumon this is very narrow (like an ant) and in the Sawfly is very thick: more like a bee.
I always wondered how these Sicus ferrugineus reproduced with that incurved abdomen. It appears it can be reversed outwards, too.
Another shot of the yellow Sawfly that I've been pursuing.
These Caddis Flies can easily be confused with micromoths. The antennae are usually the give-away. About 8 mm. long.