With some nice warm sunshine, it's back to bug of the day 🌞
This is a rose chafer (Cetonia aurata), which flew away very rapidly shortly after this photo was taken 🪲
Still need to have more time & patience (from me & the insects) to get deeper depth-of-focus in my macro shots 🤷♂️
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Garden bug of the day 🪲
I think this is a male Oedemera virescens, given the the thick thighs & the split wing casing, although there are several species which look similar 🤨
This species doesn't seem to have an English name, as it's uncommon in the UK, but in German it's the Graugrüner Schenkelkäfer or grey-green leg beetle. Makes sense 👍
Bonus bug – a large bee fly or Bombylius major, feeding from a wild strawberry flower through its large proboscis 🐝🪰
A famous bee mimic species that looks cute & fluffy, but actually has a dark side, living parasitically off real bees when a larva 😬
Very hard to catch in flight or when feeding as they tend to whizz around at high speed & are quite twitchy around humans. With some more patience, maybe I'll catch one resting 🤞
Garden bug of the day 🪲
I believe these tulip lovers are Oxythyrea funesta & young at that, because they still have their bristles – those will wear off later in the season, I gather.
Also known in English as the white spotted rose beetle, Mediterranean spotted chafer, or flower scarab, and in German as the Trauer-Rosenkäfer, this species can be quite destructive to roses & other flowers 💐
Our kids are coming home for Easter next week, but it’ll take quite some effort to remove this lodger from the downstairs spare bedroom beforehand 😬✌️
My first macro lens foray into the garden this spring & this green tiger beetle (Cicindela campestris) was good enough to pose for a few seconds at least.
Not super sharp, but hey, you have to start somewhere 🤷♂️
I have the feeling I might be spending a lot of time chasing lovely wee beasties around the garden this summer as as way of distracting myself from the ugly big ones intent on destroying the world.
Lots of yellow-legged or Asian hornets (Vespa velutina) buzzing around & feeding on the ivy in the sunshine outside our house today, along with many other insects.
They’re big, noisy, & cool to see in such large numbers & they’re not especially aggressive (a few landed on me) – there must be a nest nearby.
That said, they’re an invasive species with a bad rap as native insect killers. For a balanced overview, see: https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/23/the-truth-about-asian-hornets-how-terrified-should-humans-and-honeybees-actually-be
Ever since this ‘killer’ species arrived in the UK in 2016, there have been horror stories about it – and they have picked up pace in recent months. So are these hornets nasty predators or just misunderstood?
Mark McCaughrean
Toredane