Sunday 6th. October 2013

A catch up on a few outings which produced some interest included ,

a pair of Robber-flies / Asilidae sp. , who were making the most of the sunshine on the 5 bar gate at the entrance to Burnt Gorse ,when I did the last full butterfly transect of the year . The transect only produced 10 butterflies from 4 species .

One of which was this Brimstone male topping up on nectar from Red Clover .

Below the Orchid Bank , I found several Magpie Fungus / Coprinus picaceus , some specimens were newly emerged like this one , but some had already gone over .

A hastily arranged trip with the two Keiths to Kingsdown Leas in the hope of seeing the Long-tailed Blues , failed after spending 6 hours searching and not a single sighting . The steps up onto the Leas did produce a Bloody-nosed Beetle / Timarcha tenebricosa , normally a night-time feeder , so called as when threatened , has the ability to squirt foul smelling red/orange liquid at it's enemy from it's mouth .

Amongst the grass on the cliff-top , four Wasp Spiders , three of them guarding their egg sacks , which look like a miniature hot-air balloon suspended by webs , like the one pictured .

Catching up on the shots of the Oare Marsh trip for the Spotted Crake , found one of the Spotted Redshank (right) seen in company with one of the Ruffs .

Down the garden , I came across this large female Ichneumon sp. , with an incredible ovipositor . She searched all the holes and cracks in this trellis support , constantly quivering , making photography difficult . Could be Rhyssa persuasoria , but I'm not sure as it lacks any white spots .

Eventually , she raised her abdomen and lowered her ovipositor into the selected area , assumingly laying her egg on a host , which when hatched , would eat it's host , nice . It appears that thicker appendages , being the two filaments pointing towards 2o/clock in the shot above , are protection for the very fine ovipositor , which I read can drill into wood to leave it's offspring's meal .

When she was finished , I managed to catch her and got a size comparison shot with this 35mm. film canister lid .

In today's sunshine , I went looking for newly born Adders , but only found 3 males and a single female , two males pictured , all soaking up the late Autumnal sun .

The 35mm. film canister was useful again to show the size of this fungi found , a Boletus sp. 

A quick stop on the Common found for butterflies on the wing , this Peacock , a Large and Small White , and a Speckled Wood ,

and this insect which I suspect is a Sawfly , with white banded antennae and orange and white banded legs . Any help with the ID would be appreciated .