Due to a change in schedule

What's this, NaHaL, surely you should be pootling about in the wilderness looking for insects, not blogging?

Sadly, after watching the roller coaster ride of a constantly changing weather forecast for a week, the decision was taken to postpone the walk until the end of the month. Hopefully, it will be warmer and drier by then.

In contrast, yesterday was glorious, so here are some photos from our garden.

I was talking about habitats to one of the builders from the site next door and he was showing me photos of his pond. The conversation moved on to butterfly banks and as I airily waved towards where we are thinking of creating one, this Common Blue appeared.

Some sawfly larvae chomping away on our cuttings of Tea-leaved Willow. Using the internet, I managed to come up with the correct genus for them, Euura. However, the local recorder pointed me in the right direction of the species, E. ferruginea or Rusty Willow Nematine.

When Megan had finished work, she took a turn around the garden and somehow spotted this little beetle, a 10-spotted Ladybird.

In the evening, we were watching a couple of Red Admirals and a Painted Lady who were busy arguing over the best basking spots on the wall of the house. Then, as the wind dropped, a cloud of insects appeared over the pond. I assumed they would be some species of fly, but when we heard them landing on the exposed pond liner with tiny thudding sounds, we investigated further.

Dunno. They are a lot smaller than the Agabus beetles already in the pond.

They weren't for standing still and having their photograph taken

Then, as the light began to fade, Megan also spotted a male Ghost Moth, hunkered down on the boards of a raised bed. We wondered about staying outdoors until dark to see if the moth would begin lekking, where competing males dance in the air to attract a female. Unfortunately, heavy rain intervened and we scurried back indoors.

STOP PRESS: Whilst writing this blog, I have been summoned outdoors because...

Crossbills!