Garden Spider.
Garden spiders are the most common orb-web spiders in the UK. I start seeing small ones in our garden in late summer as the season moves into autumn, the spiders mature, and by late autumn, they are at their largest (approximately 13cm). Orb webs are spiral wheel-shaped webs.
Wasps.
Many people only see the pest in wasps. However, like bees, they are important pollinators and pest controllers. They live in large colonies in gaps in houses and trees. Their nests are built of ‘paper’, which is formed by the queen chewing up wood. feed on food like nectar, rotten fruit, whilst their young are fed on small insects, which are often pests. They come into conflict with humans as they are attracted to our food tables, both inside and out.
Today I decided to leave the long lens at home and take a macro lens on our walk, following a stream on the lookout for bugs.
Housefly.
Honey Bee.
Mint Beetle.
Raft Spider.
Willow Emerald Damselfly and Southern Hawker Dragonfly at Titchfield Haven this morning.
Macro lens testing in the garden. Wasps and Bees. on Red Bistort “Firetail”.
Peacock Butterfly caterpillars on nettles. Something so black becomes something colourful!
It seems to be a good year for white butterflies.
Leafhoppers are small, sap-sucking insects that feed on leaves and stems. Nearly 300 species have been recorded in the UK. This leafhopper, I believe, is a Cicadella viridis. It is more commonly known as a Green Leafhopper, Size 6-8mm
In the UK, the most well-known amphibian is the common frog. It is a regular visitor to garden ponds across the country, and it hibernates in pond mud or under log piles.
The marsh frog, a non-native species, was introduced to the UK in the 1930s, with populations establishing in Kent and spreading to other parts of southern England. While most common in the southeast, isolated populations have been recorded further north. Unlike our native frogs, they never stray too far from water. They either are in it, or sat close to it. They are alert and wary as you approach, they will launch themselves into and plop into the water. Last August, we watched a New Forest population.
Today we returned the the same area and spotted them again.
I was glad to see many raft spiders back in a stream where we had seen a good population last year. The raft spider is a large, chunky spider that lives around the edge of ponds and ditches, and on wet heaths and bogs.
Continued Reflections from my World. 