A moderately sunny day, +23° C. Been to Ashtead.
Very quiet insect-wise, the most interesting specimen was this Nowickia ferox tachinid:
Some Lasioglossum sp. bee:
Ashtead Common
A windy, mainly overcast day with a few sunny spells, +24° C. Been to Ashtead.
Dasysyrphus tricinctus hoverfly. Check out a reflection of me shooting it on its shiny pronotum!
Chrysotoxum verralli hoverfly:
Ashtead Common
A warm, cloudy and very humid day, +23° C. Been to Ashtead.
Plenty of fresh Marbled Whites (Melanargia galathea) there:
Myolepta dubia hoverfly:
Ashtead Common
A warm, mostly sunny day, +21° C. Been to Ashtead.
Rhagium mordax longhorn beetle:
Tenthredo ?temula sawfly:
Ashtead Common
A sunny, hot day, +31° C. Been to Ashtead.
In the final effort to shoot the Emperor, I brought some turned fruit as bait. However, it was so hot that even flies weren’t attracted.
I saw some Emperors though — but they were already totally knackered.
The Brown Argus (Aricia agestis) males are fiercely territorial, drawing away any butterflies that come into their sight, no matter what species or what size! The little prick:
As is usual for a hot summer, the normally short-winged Roesel’s Bush-crickets (Bicolorana roeselii) develop into winged adults (f. diluta). Today I witnessed how well these can fly: one took off effortlessly, rose like a butterfly to a height of more than 10 meters and disappeared from my sight. I guess they can be very effective at dispersal.
Ashtead Common
A hot, sunny day, +28° C. Been to Ashtead.
Many insects hide from the heat — and those that don’t take flight at the slightest distraction.
Failed to photograph an Agrilus biguttatus jewel beetle and a Choerades marginatus robber-fly 😦
Only managed to shoot several flies.
A tachinid, I guess:
A muscid:
Ashtead Common
A sunny morning that turned into a cloudy afternoon, +18° C. Been to Ashtead.
Very few insects around. Found a Violet Ground Beetle (Carabus violaceus) under a log:
A female Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.):
Ashtead Common
A nice sunny afternoon after a dull morning, +25° C.
Been to Ashtead Common. Very quiet insect-wise.
Quite a lot of Dark Bush-crickets (Pholidoptera griseoaptera) singing in Bramble bushes:
Lots of Russula foetens mushrooms along the edge of the wood. The fruit bodies smell of burnt horn, quite unpleasant:
Ashtead Common
A sunny but still very humid day, +24° C. Been to Ashtead.
Few photos, nothing really special. The catch is much better though! Good numbers of Magpie Moths (Abraxas grossulariata) in the woods, also got a Scorched Carpet (Ligdia adustata) and a few nice micros.
Terellia ruficauda picture-winged fly:
Leptura quadrifasciata longhorn beetle:
Ashtead Common
Another hot day, +32° C. Went to Ashtead Common.
Saw a male Purple Emperor (Apatura iris), which passed me by and flew off never to be seen again. I guess now is the time to pay Bookham another visit early in the morning 😉
White Admirals (Limenitis camilla) are also not infrequent.
Large Red Damselfy (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) is the only insect I managed to photograph on the site (although I did collect many moths to photograph at home):
And this, I believe, is Marsh Woundwort (Stachys palustris):
Vlad Proklov's wildlife blog 