Bug Bugged

So here's another one, seen today just below the sheep field. This time I can't even guess the Order, let alone the Family. I mean, it might be Diptera - it appears to have two wings (not four), and two short antennae, with a long and dangerous looking mouth-part. But those might be elytra (wing cases) in front of the wings, and that could make it a Coleoptera.

I fear that this bug business could get a bit obsessive...

Distinct lack of Order

Bugs at the Croft

A selection of images to reassure you that despite the pesticides that are being sprayed around the world, this little corner of Catalonia still has a load of lovely bugs.

Stink bug sex, in full colour

This is a potter wasp nest, beautifully built on a blade of grass.

Potter; The Cupboard under the Staircase

This is the beauty of leaving your skin behind.

I jumped out of my skin

And here is the life on our thyme flowers, on 26th June of this year:

Repro Croft

Everyone seems to be reproducing this Spring - er, apart from your writer. The Treecreepers have made a nest in an old fruit tree and are bringing up a clutch of four or five young.

Certhia brachydactyla, in a hole

Meanwhile, round the corner these two were having a good time on a flower stalk. I am hopeless at bug identification but I think these might be Scentless Plant Bugs. Order Hemiptera, Family Rhopalidae. But any better suggestions very welcome.

He's bugging me...

Back to Bugs

Back down here on earth after all the politicking, here are a couple of splendid bugs, seen today:

Turquoise Flying Thing

 This first one might be related to Cetonia aurata, but frankly I have very little idea. Any suggestions, welcome.

Ding dung

The second is Plebejus argus, I think, sucking up some amino acids from a nice mature pile of donkey dung. Delicious.

But together, they show that we are not having a Silent Spring; no-one is spraying chemicals anywhere near here, and the bugs thrive.

Dance like a hoverfly...

...look like a bee. Or a wasp.

This, I think, is Volucella zonaria, a wasp-mimicking hoverfly. H/she was drying her wings in a sunny spot above a miniature wetland we've created using an old water tank. He's big!

Big, bug and beautiful

And this is the (not so) Scarce Swallowtail, Iphiclides podalirius, laying eggs on 5th May 2014 in the mud outside the donkey stable. Not a great photo, but I wanted to record the date.

Half a dozen here, half a dozen there