Blackartz' Natural History Blog
Hmm, now I’m prepared to admit that this may be a bit of a serious undertaking, but to celebrate the fact that this is the UNs International Year of Biodiversity, I’m going to attempt to add one species a day from my collection of natural history photographs, to the blog.
So without further ado I’ll get on with species one:
Green Dock Beetle (Gastrophysa viridula)
The helpful folks over at the Beetle ID forum of Natural History Museum’s Nature Plus website, have decided that this is most likely to be a male Green Dock Beetle (Gastrophysa viridula).
As the name suggests, they feed on Dock and the closely related Sorrel and are not uncommon in a variety of habitats. Even though I’m a pretty avid insect spotter, it’s the first one I’ve seen. The fact that he was tiny, only about 4-5mm in length, may be a contributary factor, as he’s undeniably extremely eye catching with his iridescent metallic carapace.
A few more pictures of my Chrysomelid, offering some alternative angles to the extremely helpful people at the bug identification forum on the Natural History Museum’s terrific natureplus website:
Current thinking is that it might be Gastrophysa viridula – the Green Dock Leaf beetle, thanks to Clive Washington and bombuslucorum at natureplus.
Freshly emerged female Beautiful Demoiselle (Caleopterix virgo)
A sunny afternoon along the banks of the river Wye in herefordshire and a memorable encounter with a truly beautiful insect.
A Southern Hawker, boldest of Dragonflies, mechanically patrols the fruit trees. On the ground a fat hornet hunts stunted, late season wasps
Above the garden, four Ravens lazily, noisily, wheeling. Perhaps a reminder that this brief sunny spell, like the Summer, will soon be gone.
Common Toad discovered under one of our reclaimed sleepers #herps http://twitpic.com/2ezs09
@littledesigner My money is still on Natrix natrix our tautonymous friend the Grass Snake
After mummy’s exciting badger encounter on her way home late last night, we wake to find a fox cub in our bed
Broad Bodied Chaser nymph (Libellula depressa)
Although this may not look like much, it bodes well for my dragonfly film project.
The first dip of our brand new net landed us this Broad Bodied Chaser nymph (Libellula depressa). Earlier in the summer I shot some HD footage of an adult of this species laying eggs in exactly the same spot in this local pond and this discovery seems to suggest the whole lifecycle could be filmable.
Also in the net today were lots of Greater and Lesser Water Boatmen, a few very tiny damselfly nymphs which were too small for my phone camera to capture and a rather interesting acquatic beetle larva I’ve yet to identify. A particularly fine flatworm caught Joe’s attention.
Twitter
Flickr
Delicious