Terry&JudyWood

All having a jolly good bathe until Walter turns up and spoils it for all! 🥳🤨#AutumnWatchlist @B_Strawbridge @wildlifebcn @BBCSpringwatch

More excitement with another male Wool Carder Bee turning up yesterday (& today) and this one is more marked. Interestingly holding territory at the same cultivated Betony - has it picked up the scent of the other male or do they like pink? 😉🤔

A particularly colourful Parent Bug (Elasmucha grisea) found resting on a Viburnum opulus (Guelder Rose) leaf in the garden a couple of days ago. Called Parent Bugs as, unusually for Shieldbugs, the female broods and protects the eggs and young larvae.

The Small Purple and Gold Mint Moths (Pyrausta aurata) are having a good year with double figure totals seen regularly in the garden recently. Photo on the ever popular Eryngium.

After a thunderstorm with torrential rain and hail on Monday the number of insects in the garden has dropped & concern for the Humming-bird Hawkmoths as, after daily visits since mid June, none seen. Thankfully, back to normal service yesterday with 3 sightings. Photo on 21st.

Good to see the handsome wasp mimic Hoverfly Chrysotoxum bicinctum again in the garden (on Eryngium). Their larvae are believed to feed on root aphids in ant's nests.

A mid instar Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina) on a Fuchsia bud after the rain.

Not a Harebell but a Nettle-leaved Bellflower (Campanula trachelium) growing in a shady spot in our garden with a Small Scissor Bee (Chelostoma campanularum) which is strongly associated with Harebells and other bellflowers. #wildflowerhour

Another Bush Cricket found indoors and released (daily occurrence ATM)- this one a male Speckled Bush Cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima) which was giving a "when you have quite finished, can I go" look...🙄. Speckled are flightless.

A male Waisted Beegrabber (Physocephala rufipes) feeding on Eryngium tripartitum on the 18th - a brilliant plant for attracting many insects especially Blood and Yellow-faced Bees, Conops, Butterflies and other flies.

Amazing what turns up on the kitchen window! - this morning, a brilliant leaf mimicking lacewing Drepanepteryx phalaenoides. Probably under-recorded but not many records in the UK and can't find any for Northants.

Good to see a number of male Red-tailed Bumbles (Bombus lapidarius) around the garden after such a poor season last year. Queens seen daily too 🐝🐝 @B_Strawbridge @TheGreenJeanie

It's Cricket season again with the daily exercise of catching adult Bush Crickets indoors and putting back in the garden. Mainly Oak Bush Crickets (Meconema thalassinum) like the one photo'd a couple of days ago but also one Dark Bush cricket so far.

A freshly emerged 2nd generation Holly Blue butterfly (Celastrina argiolus) resting on Dogwood in the garden. So good to see more butterflies and insects around this year. Last year was dire for Holly Blues here.

Probably peaking in numbers now - we counted 6 Peacocks in the garden on the 10th, down to 2 yesterday. Always surprises us how quickly they disappear to hibernate so early.

Landing right next to us, this is only the 2nd Tortoise Shieldbug we have ever seen in the garden - There are 2 similar "Tortoises" and this one looks like Eurygaster testudinaria. A great little character!

Not many opportunities to photo Brown Hawkers (Aeshna grandis) as they are very mobile & (in our experience) tend to rest high up in vegetation but this female was sheltering from the wind on the stem of one of our Buddleias a few days ago.

Humming-bird hawkmoths are daily visitors at the moment with multiple sightings most days (since mid June) so there may be more than one. Always a thrill to see and watch. Did not see any last year after a record number of sightings in 2023.

At last! Our 1st ever male Wool Carder Bee (Anthidium manicatum) (we saw a female 2 years ago in the Chilterns). We have lots of types of Stachys & he is holding territory around a Betony. We hoped one would turn up! @B_Strawbridge