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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