I think It is great hunting for these small Shieldbugs and I seem do be doing it every time I go out with the camera. Most, but not all, of these bugs were found at Burdon Moor and along the Tanfield Railway path. Once again I may not have the identification correct for all of them.
I had been extolling the virtues of Twizell Woods to my wife for ages and telling her, she should have a look the next time I went. For one reason or another, she could not make it then one day she said she would come with me to see what it was like. We arrived at the woods and the first thing I noticed was that the grass on either side of the path had been cut down (or so I thought). We carried on to the ponds to look for dragonfly. When we got to the ponds, I realised that the grass had not been cut but flattened. Some morons had been through the woods on quad bikes and destroyed nearly all of the vegetation around all five of the small ponds. They had driven through the ponds churning up the water and making the ponds a muddy mess. I had been telling my wife how lovely this place was and here she was looking at devastation. Now I know the ponds will soon recover but I wonder what damage has been done, by those morons, to the wildlife in the ponds and how that will recover. I went back a couple of days later, the ponds had cleared and there were a few dragonflies flying around so signs of recovery. There were quite a few Southern Hawkers around so here are a few images I managed to get of said dragonfly.
…a few different sites while out and about over the last couple of weeks.
Speckled Wood butterfly
Another Speckled Wood butterfly
Red Admiral butterfly
Small Tortoiseshell butterfly
Silver Y moth
Hairy Caterpillar
There seems to be loads of Spiders everywhere
Harvestman?
Another Harvestman?
A large Bumble Bee
Wasp rasping wood from a post
Another Wasp. Can someone tell me what the white stuff is on the back of the wasp?
Bee again with the white stuff is it just pollen.
Ladybird
