Sunday 31 May 2020

Insects on Oxeye Daisies

Green Hairstreak, 29 May 2020 (second garden sighting)

We are enjoying a healthy variety of insect life in our unmown 'mini-meadow' garden at present. We have two patches of (?self-seeded/bird-seeded) Ox-eye Daisies. It seems we are in good company for King's College in Cambridge also has a mass of these flowers, to the delight of head gardener, Steven Coghill. The stunning Cambridge 'meadow' appeared in a Twitter pic. posted by @acambridgediary earlier this evening.

I have noticed in other years that these flowers attract a range of insects. I have already started to photograph invertebrates on Dandelions, so I thought I would do the same with these showy white-and-yellow heads. I will add more photos as I go along. I know some of the insects I have seen or am hoping to see (no sighting of a Thick-legged Flower Beetle to date...), but please let me know if you recognise anything, or if you notice a mistake!  

Query: Narcissus Bulb Fly (Merodon equistris), 26 May 2020

Mother Shipton, 27 May 2020, a garden first

26 May 2020

25 May 2020


Mint Moth, 22 May 2020


Carpet Beetle, 26 May 2020

Blackfly and ?ant (where are the ladybirds?), 26 May 2020


26 May 2020

28 May 2020


28 May 2020


28 May 2020

7-spot Ladybird on stem, 1 June 2020

Ruby-tailed Wasp, 1 June 2020. See here: Hedychrum niemelai

Detail of Ruby-tailed Wasp above, like a glitter ball!

?Moth (antennae to short for Longhorn?), 1 June 2020

Peacock butterfly, 1 June 2020, taken by David Gill


Malachite Beetle, 3 June 2020

Cantharis rustica, 3 June 2020

4 comments:

Crafty Green Poet said...

Hi Caroline, lovely photos! Ox eye daisies are such wonderful flowers for insects themselves and for photographing insects on! I think the second photo in the post is a narcissus bulb fly (Merodon equistris) though it may be another species of hoverfly bee mimic

Ragged Robin said...

Lovely photos and a great idea to take photos of insects on Ox-eye daisies. You have already seen a great selection :)

Caroline Gill said...

Thank you very much, CGP and RR, for your kind comments, and CGP, for the ID.

Lowcarb team member said...

What a lovely collection of photographs showing the wonderful Ox eye daisies and the insects.

Sending my good wishes, have a happy new month of June … May seemed to whizz by!

All the best Jan