Tag: paul leyland

Paul writes: I often photograph insects and have no idea what I’ve seen until I get home. This is one of those creatures. A fairly insignificant thing, less than 10mm long, basking on a leaf. However once I loaded up the image it was a matter of, ‘Wow, isn’t that fantastic’. Then comes the difficult…

Paul writes: there are still plenty of moths around at night in September, especially when the weather is warm. This one turned up in my moth trap on Wednesday. It is a beautiful moth with shiny metallic yellow-green wings. The name, Burnished Brass, perfectly describes its appearance. It’s a common species throughout the UK. The…

The English name for this hoverfly describes it perfectly. Although the fly is only small, 10mm, the long thin body is instantly recognisable. The fly’s Latin name is Sphaerophoria scripta, which probably explains why it needs an easy English name. It’s a Latin name that is easily remembered in print but one I’ve never heard…

Paul writes: I see lots of black beetles and many of them are quite difficult to identify. This is one of the easier ones. It is quite large, 18 – 26mm long, with a chunky looking body and distinctive orange tipped antennae. It belongs to the family Silphidae, commonly known as burying beetles. They emerge…

Paul writes: the Orange-backed Tachinid (Tachina fera) is a fantastic fly. It’s quite large, reaching 16mm long and easily recognisable by its colours and spiky appearance. It is fairly well distributed throughout England and Wales but less common in Scotland. I usually see them in August and September, I found this one recently at Harlow…

Paul writes: Shield-bugs develop in a series of flightless nymphs, or instars, each one different and slightly bigger than the previous one. This is a 5th instar, which is the final stage before adulthood. It’s about 10mm long and blends beautifully into its surroundings. The adult Common Green Shield-bug (Palomena prasina) grows up to 12mm…

Paul writes: If you can only recognise one hoverfly it will probably be this one. The combination of orange and black stripes on the abdomen is found only on this species. The Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) widespread throughout Europe, North Asia and North Africa and can turn up in almost all habits. Whenever I’m on…

There are several species of Burnet moth and they are amongst the most noticeable day-flying moths in the UK. All are very similar, however the Six-spot Burnet (Zygaena filipendulae) is the only one with six distinct spots on each forewing. It is also the commonest and most widespread, being seen almost everywhere except in Scotland,…

  Paul writes: I’ve seen a lot in the press lately about an invasion of horseflies, due to the hot weather. Also lots of advice about how to avoid them. I must be one of the few people who actually hope to find one, especially a female. One look at the eyes in this photograph…

Paul writes: Robberflies, as the name suggests, are predatory flies and their main source of food is other insects. They usually perch up, waiting for a suitable victim, then once found make a flying hop onto the prey. The flies have a short strong proboscis, which they use to stab their kill and inject it…