On the winter’s coldest day so far, let’s look back to the summer for a while: here is Simon Knight’s picture of a golden-bloomed longhorn beetle sunbathing among the grass stems.

Beetles

Just a few of the reserve’s coleoptera.

Header image: Red headed cardinal beetle by Gail Hampshire (CC BY 2.0) wikimedia.com

Devil’s coach horse

A Devil’s coach horse (Ocypus olens) was found and identified in Kestrel Field yesterday by Sarah Gould. Ocypus olens is a swiftly-moving ground beetle species and this one was moving so swiftly that Sarah was unable to get anything more than a blurred, but perfectly identifiable, picture which we sent to Ian for confirmation. This is a new species for the reserve’s comprehensive lists

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Thick legged flower beetle

An irridescent green, female Oedemera nobilis, known as the thick legged flower beetle or swollen thighed beetle, photographed in the park this week. It is the male (see below) that has the strangely shaped legs for which the species is named

[1] by Gail Hampshire (CC BY 2.0) flickr.com; [2] © Hans Hillewaert (CC BY-SA 4.0) wikimedia.org


Seven facts about seven spot ladybirds

ONE: There are about 5,000 different species of ladybirds in the world but only 47 of them can be found in the British Isles and the seven spot ladybird is the most common of them and one of the biggest.

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Thick legged flower beetle

A female Oedemera nobilis, known as the thick legged flower beetle or swollen thighed beetle, photographed in the park last week.

The male has the strangely shaped legs for which the species is named


A marbled white (Melanargia galathea) on creeping thistle flowers, photographed in the park yesterday by Julie Newblé. If you look carefully, there are at least three common red soldier beetles hidden in the picture.

Thanks Julie.

Whirligig beetles

National Insect Week – Day 5

Whirligig beetles are actually a whole family (Gyrinidae) of water beetles: almost 700 different species globally, most of them very much alike and extremely difficult to tell apart. We have no idea what particular species live in the pond above the wooden bridge but all the Gyridinae share some fascinating features.

Read on for details and a short video

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