18th March |
A very warm and sunny day led me to the original
Hedgerow, leg 2. There's an old Goat Willow that just had to be visited on
a day like today. I wasn't disappointed.
Dry and hot. |
The Sepsidae are tiny ant-like flies that run around waving their wings in some kind of semaphore. The spots on their wings are ideal for messaging.
This shot shows the wing veining:
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Two shots of Dung flies. The right-hand image is the male Scathophagus stercoraria. These flies have larvae that live in animal dung, but the adults are predators that catch other flies in mid-flight. The females are also a target for Entomophthora musci - a fungus that infests the gut and reproductive system and eventually kills the victim.
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This tiny bug was nectaring on the Lesser Celandine. Not sure what it is. Yet. |
A male Eristalis pertinax - a hoverfly - was resting in the sun. As I took the shot, it preened itself with its left rearmost leg. |
I closely examined every dropped Hawthorn berry. One of them had to be the 7-spot ladybird - Coccinella 7-punctata. |