Monday, 31 July 2017

A Monstrous Beastie

Well, it's actually been a reasonable day today by the standards of recent weather, and I've had a fair old potter about. I always like to spy out the local clumps of buddleia, as I'm sure all amateur nature lovers do, because there is so much insect life you can potentially find feeding of it.

Hit the jackpot today!

I'd been initially disappointed, scanning through the purple clumps of flowers growing on the plants sticking through the fencing at Derry's, but then a big yellow behind caught my eye.

I've seen this colour before, once you do you really don't mistake it for anything else. It belongs to the hornet mimic hoverfly, our largest hoverfly species and a truly magnificent insect. The yellow-white abdomen glows, the eyes are huge, and the wings are like those of a pterodactyl.

They were once rare, but are another species creeping north with global warming. All the others I've seen have been very skittish, but this one let me take a shot or two, and I'm very grateful for it!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 31.07.17




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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous31 July 2017 at 23:58

    I saw one last week too but mine was very skittish and kept buzzing off! Fantastic pics, well done Si. A fab insect.

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  2. Ragged Robin1 August 2017 at 05:10

    Well done on getting the photos Simon. They are such lovely insects :) The one in our garden has taken a liking to one of the buddleias too!

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  3. Simon Douglas Thompson1 August 2017 at 08:19

    Thank you, normally they are gone once you get within two metres of them, this one was happy to hang about!

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  4. Crafty Green Poet3 August 2017 at 02:05

    For all the hoverfly species I see, I don't think I've seen this one!

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  5. Anonymous6 August 2017 at 18:02

    THanks both of you, I love these encounters

    ตารางคะแนนพรีเมียร์ลีก

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