August 2010
male jumping spider (Salticidae sp.) - Long Eaton, Derbyshire
Another month of not being able to get out much! I don't seem to be having much luck with my health this year. First a prolonged illness in the first half of the year. Then, just as I was starting to get my fitness back, I tore my calf muscles and have been forced to spend most of the month resting my leg desparately hoping it will be fully healed before I fly out to Australia at the end of September. Very frustrating!!
As a consequence, the only photos I got this month were of insects either in my garden or the nearby Long Eaton gravel pits (neither of which involved much walking...or carrying large, heavy lenses).
male Twin-lobed Deerfly (Chrysops relictus) - Long Eaton, Derbyshire
Deerflies are one of my least favourite insects due to the nasty allergic reaction I get to their bites which leave me with large, painfully itchy sores for a couple of weeks. They do, however, have a couple of redeeming features. The most obvious of which is their beautifully-coloured, irridescent green-and-red eyes. The other point slightly in their favour is it is only the females that bite. Males feed entirely on nectar.
male Twin-lobed Deerfly (Chrysops relictus) - Long Eaton, Derbyshire
Green Shieldbug nymph (Palomina prasina) - Long Eaton, Derbyshire
Green Shieldbug nymph (Palomina prasina) - Long Eaton, Derbyshire
The nymphs of the resident Green Shieldbug colony on the yucca plant in my garden were maturing rapidly and by the end of the month a few had turned into adults.
Adult Green Shieldbug (Palomina prasina) - Long Eaton, Derbyshire
Myrmica rubra - Long Eaton, Derbyshire
female Episyrphus balteatus - Long Eaton, Derbyshire
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