Cloudy and warm.
Leucozona lucorum again. Why not?
This Ichneumon looks very like the one I showed laying in late August 2004 and September 2005, but it's far too early for her. Must be convergent species: they will be different in some microscopic detail.
This is one of the Ectemnius Wasps. These are predatory on hoverflies, and I'm convinced they look very much like hoverflies with their large heads and yellow frons, especially when the antennae are conveniently folded so that the lower half is over the frons. This also makes the antennae look small, like those of a hoverfly. Since hoverflies mimic wasp colouration, I think this is a wasp mimicking a hoverfly that is mimicking a wasp.
Three shots of a tiny (8mm.) wasp. Note the three extra eyes or ocellae on the back of the head.
Two shots of Bibio pomacaeus, showing the female (left) and the male (right). The difference in eye, and hence head, size is readily apparent.
A nice 'threefer'. Rhingia campestris (hoverfly, top) and another Ichneumonid on Knapweed.
Scaeva pyrastri has pale marks that reach further forward in the centre than they do at the edge. Thought to be migrant in Ireland.
Some of the Raspberries are yellow. I actually prefer the tase of these to the normal red ones.