I went looking for Adders yesterday, I did see one female but unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get any pictures as I only saw it slithering it into some bracken and I lost sight of it after that. I did however see my first Tiger Beetles and Shieldbugs of the year.
Green Tiger Beetle.
Hairy Shieldbug.
Blue Shieldbug?
Heath Beetle of which there were loads.
Not sure which species of Beetle this is.
Another visit to Twizell Woods to visit the ponds and this time the water levels were a little higher which was great to see. Good numbers of dragonfly, damselfly and butterflies around the ponds made it a canny afternoon out.
Southern Hawker.
Female Southern Hawker laying eggs on a bulrush.
She tried a few different locations.
Male Black Darter.
Male Ruddy Darter.
Common Darter.
A pair of Emerald Damselfly.
Two pair of Emerald Damselfly.
Hairy/Sloe Shieldbug. This is one of only two I saw.
Large While Butterfly
Comma Butterfly.
I have seen more Shieldbugs in the past week or so than I did in the whole of Spring and Summer. It’s great to see them on the autumnal colours of the brambles and other leaves. These images were all taken in the Burdon Moor area and once again I am quite happy to be corrected on the identification of any of them.
Hairy/Sloe
Shieldbug.
Spiked
Shieldbug (there were more of these around than anything else).
Green Shieldbug.
Gorse
Shieldbug.
Spider
waiting for something to come along,
