August Highlights

 Photos of some of the natural wonders I've seen this August (and late July) in Pett, Pett Level and its environs, though mostly in our garden.

First up - the glow-worms.  Photos courtesy of Ruth Ward.  I keep meaning to go out and get some pictures myself but so far haven't.

Lampyris noctiluca - this is an adult beetle but has no wing cases so looks like a larva or 'worm'.

The slightly shaky image of the light which only shows in the last 3 segments of the abdomen.

Two rarities from Pett Level sea wall - both have a conservation status of 'Nationally Scarce B' - a ladybird and a bumblebee.  No bumblebees were harmed in the taking of these photos.

Adonis Ladybird - Hippodamia variegata   3.5mm long with what looks like (but isn't) a smiley face.  It is aphidophagous - it eats aphids - and is often found in coastal areas.

Male Ruderal Bumblebee.  Bombus ruderatus. Note the broad and equal width bands on the thorax.

Male Ruderal Bumblebee showing the relatively short hair, long face, long abdomen, and his ginger beard

Ruby-tailed wasp - Chrysura radians.  One of a number of similar looking species that can be identified from the puncture patterns on the thorax.

Ruby-tailed wasp - Chrysura radians. This is a parasitoid of certain mason bees such as Osmia leaiana which use bee hotels and seal up each cell with leaf mastic.  I saw Osmia leaiana in the garden earlier this year but I'm not sure if they have nested in the garden.

A very patiently posing (or dozy) digger wasp Cerceris rybyensis.  It is commonly called the Ornate-tailed Digger Wasp.  It preys on small to medium-sized bees of various species which it paralyses with its sting and carries back to its burrow as food for its larvae.  It also squeezes the neck of its prey with those powerful mandibles.

Ornate-tailed Digger Wasp showing how it got its name.

And last but not least a particularly impressive bush-cricket.  Impressive for those long antennae which are about three times the length of the insect.  Long antennae are one of the features that distinguish bush-crickets from grasshoppers.  This is a long-winged cone-head female (Conocephalus discolor or also Conocephalus fuscus) sporting an equally impressive ovipositor which she uses to lay eggs in hollow grass or rush stems in which she has previously bitten a hole.