I'm now wondering if my unidentified "digger wasp" is actually a tenthredo sawfly ! It looks pretty good for the female Plantain Wasp-sawfly ( Tenthredo omissa ) shown here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/63075200@N07/sets/72157712162671846/ Also, just had a HH-m on the buddleia. At least w...

Bits'n'bobs grab bag from last week. First few are from a walk around Old Lodge, the rest from work. No water in the smaller ponds at Old Lodge unfortunately, but did see male and female Small Red damselfly and plenty of Brown China-mark moths. The insect I've marked as "Any Ideas ?" I'm s...

Many thanks meiga. When I was initially skimming through images, I thought Golden Pearl looked the closest, but I talked myself out of it not least because the description mentioned the moth inhabits open heathland and shingle areas, so I thought it might be too much of a "specialist" very...

Thanks all for your thoughts. I always appreciate any consideration. I know a better photo would help. Mine aren't great at the best of times but it's even more tricky when a). the subject goes underneath a leaf and b). I'm nominally supposed to be working 😉 Thanks for the suggestion Chris. It has j...

...and the more I look at it, the more I see a human eye looking back at me toward the corner of the right forewing...

Hi, I snapped this moth at work last Tuesday (26th July). The garden mums (chrysanthemums) always seem to attract a lot of insects even when not in flower. It may be the density of leaf cover for protection. I disturbed it when walking by and it flew underneath a leaf. I included a snap with my late...

Nice selection of bits and pieces there Zig-Zag ..............the moth is unusual ,but could be of the Anania family. I,m sure someone will know ................its also similar to European Corn Borer (which it isn,t !). over the last couple of late afternoons i,ve re-visited my closest Grizzle Sit...

Odds'n'ends round up. Sorry it's so much but there's a couple of weeks' worth. These are in chronological order. There were no Chalkhill Blue visitors at work last summer, but I saw one male earlier this week and two were duking it out yesterday. Maybe there's so many of them up on the Downs that a ...

As I'm off to Leeds for the weekend, here's my foreshortened weekly grab-bag.

Always good to see a Chrysotoxum hoverfly. It was one of the tricky five - I'll plump for C. verralli but ideally needs a better snap.

Thanks as always aeshna5 !

Two Waves I saw today at work. I think they're different species but may be wrong given the variation you can get with moths. I'm saying Moth A is a Small Fan-footed Wave ( Idaea biselata ) and Moth B is a Dwarf Cream Wave ( Idaea fuscovenosa ). But I've definitely been wrong before ! So I'd appreci...

I've just jealously read Testudo Man's report of getting W-L Hairstreaks back in his Kent garden after 3 years. I have no chance of that, but I would love to find one more locally than the outskirts of Brighton if possible. Last year I spotted a couple of mature elms in gardens bordering a suburban ...

I'm still hoping one of those beauties will catch up with me, Stevie ! Nothing unusual in my very local fields today, but did see a single fresh Common Blue (male), 4 Peacock, 2 Red Admiral, 5 Large White, 3 Speckled Wood, 1 Holly Blue along with very large numbers of golden skippers (many now a bit...

The working week went from a Peacock using a piece of log as a windbreak on Monday to a Purple Hairstreak diving into a bush and under a leaf moth-like to avoid the intense heat at 1:40pm yesterday. Not surprisingly there's a good number of parasitic wasps about. They don't stay still (my excuse). I...

- Any help with the fly ID really appreciated. Struggling to find a wasp mimic with long antennae and that much yellow. Try Conopid fly :) Excellent ! Thanks as always Bugboy. Yes, looks like Conops quadrifasciatus to me. Sounds like you wouldn't want to fly too close to a female if you were a bumb...

That'll definitely turn into a moth one day Charles.....but I can't tell you which one ;-) I'm sure someone here can though. I'd also love to find an unusual Comma like yours Mitch. Has to be some form of ab. surely ? Commas are definitely about in good numbers now on my local fields. Despite all th...

Thanks Vince - very interesting to know there were transects so close to me. I had a few lunchtime routes. One was to nip out onto the Balcombe Road, go south until Taylors Pitstop, turn right on to Radford Road, try and ignore the Greyhound Pub beer garden (home of the British and World marble cham...

She looks amazingly comfortable on your lawn Vince. What a beauty ! Superb sunset too. I used to work close to the South Terminal (from 1993 to 2015). I really wish I'd caught the butterfly/insect...err....bug during that time. I saw quite a few things on my lunchtime walks, but I hope I'd have reme...

Thanks for that Zig-Zag ! it made my day ....................a fitting end to our first weeks holiday .........Well pleased ! Your moth is a Box tree moth ,dark form . We visited Old Lodge .....Brilliant reserve ,a bit early for some hoped for Dragonflies but did see all 3 variations of female Smal...

Congrats for that Allan, reward for perseverance. I'd love to see one. I've been stuck on 38 species in total for a fair time now, seen within a 2.5 mile radius of my home. I'd like to try and get that to 40 before I admit defeat and start using transport other than Shanks's Pony to get further tick...