Collection Distractions

When I'm out pollen collecting for the Short-haired Bumblebee Reintroduction Project, I'm concentrating totally on the bees and on whether or not they are carrying pollen.  But sometimes something bright or unusual catches your eye and you just have to reach for the camera.

Woundwort Shieldbug - Eysarcoris venustissimus

This tiny, but exquisite little beast caught my eye because I'd never seen a shieldbug so small, and I'd never seen any of this species before.  It is called the Woundwort Shieldbug because the nymphs feed on Hedge Woundwort - Stachys sylvatica.  But the most significant thing from the point of view of afficionados of the bumblebee project are concerned is that they also feed on White Dead-nettle!

Sphaerophoria scripta

Sphaerophoria scripta

This hoverfly is just plain eye-catching.  Not only did it pose on the head of the thistle but it also struck the mid-air pose.  The remarkable thing about the mid-air photo, is not the luck of the photographer in getting the shot, but the fact that even with a shutter speed of 1/800th of a second, the wings are a blur, but the body is as still as if it were screwed to the ground.

Tenthredopsis litterata

This last distraction was a very lively and shy insect - hence the poor photos.  I saw several flitting about in the comfrey, but so far I've been unable to identify it.  I've got feelers out (sometimes you can't resist an antenna pun) but so far nobody has come back with a definite answer.  I think it may be a sawfly of some sort, but I'll update this post when I get more information.

The update is that it is indeed a sawfly - Tenthredopsis litterata but the only thing I can find out about it is that the larvae feed on cock's-foot grass.