We’re locked down in Bristol but there is plenty to see in the garden if you look closely enough! The warm spring means some creatures were up and around unusually early – late March in the case of these guests.
A relatively easy ID to start with. Presumably Rhopalus Subrufus, a sap sucker particularly fond of St John’s Wort etc. Overwinters as an adult so it can get an early start. Welcome back. See our previous post from May 2017 here.
Its family isn’t much changed from the Middle Jurassic judging by fossils from Inner Mongolia, where it presumably grew up dodging Stegosaurus or similar. Innovation is much over-rated.
The Bee Flies always seem to arrive with the early Comfrey. The long proboscis is used for drinking nectar. This furry creature is totally harmless but its larvae eat the larvae of bees and wasps in their nests, which isn’t quite so lovable.
There are several close relatives, this one is the Dark-edged Bee-fly Bombylius major. A great fact sheet here from the Natural History Museum and an ID chart from the Soldierflies recording scheme here.
Certainly Eristralis hoverflies (male above, female below) but which one? Given the time of year and the yellow front feet, let’s just guess Pertinax, otherwise known as the Tapered Drone Fly. We’ve seen a lot in the garden this year, the males hovering a few feet up guarding there territory.
There is an easy-to-read guide here. Many hoverflies have larvae that roam around the flowerbed eating pesky aphids but Pertinax larvae live in ‘organically-rich’ water breathing through a long tube. We’ve seen these ‘rat-tailed maggots’ living in a bucket of muddy water.
And last but not least, a frequent visitor to (and consumer off) our garden and wood, the Green Shield Bug (Palomena prasina). We’ve probably all see it around but its a fascinating insect nonetheless. Lots more info on the bug and its life cycle in our previous post here.
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