In My Re-wilded Garden – Part 4

Sorry, its another bug post – I hope you are not bored with these 🙂 I am now up to 70 different species of bugs in my re-wilded garden so I thought I would post another selection of those that I have taken pictures of over the last week or two. I will try to make this the last bug post as I have other things that I would like to post. So, here’s some of my recent finds…..

Love has definitely been in the air recently and it has been interesting to watch. I have posted shots of Soldier Beetles and Gatekeepers before but not in this position. It is quite amazing as the whole process of love making can take a long time, especially with the Red Soldier Beetles – in fact, she seems to go about her normal business while he hangs on for dear life!

It’s amazing how beautiful some bugs are. I’m sure that to some, the term ‘beautiful bug’ would be regarded as an oxymoron, but I would disagree. The two sawflies above are two different species, and both so lovely to my eyes.

Probably the most handsome one I have seen is the Hornet Mimic Hoverfly and I make no apology for posting another picture of this wonderful, and very big, bug 🙂 ! It looks for all the world like a nasty Hornet but it is just a gentle hoverfly that uses its disguise as a protection.

And talking of handsome creatures, the Plume Moth above has the word ‘beautiful’ in its name, and how about the cranefly below? It is not the best picture because light was fading but my, he shows up his ‘everyday’ cranefly cousin that we normally get in our house.

Spiders are not everyone’s favourite……..especially not my wife’s 🙂 ! But here are two handsome specimens, a False Widow and a Crab Spider. I have put up a picture of the Crab Spider before but I put this one up to illustrate a characteristic of theirs, the ability to change colour to suit their surroundings. In the earlier picture the spider was white but this one is a yellow/green colour and it is this colour matching ability that helps to conceal it’s presence as they rely on surprise to catch their prey, jumping out to grab unsuspecting bugs with their strong front legs.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the wildlife in my garden. It does show what is possible if you just allow your garden to grow a little wilder. I love wandering around my garden and seeing what I can find, and virtually every time I go out there, I find something new and amazing. Nature is wonderful, and for me, it is an essential part of life. As mentioned before, I have so far identified 70 different species of bugs and 50 species of wild plants in my small urban garden……and I’m still counting!

In case you missed my earlier posts, there are links below:

In My Re-wilded Garden – Part 1
In My Re-wilded Garden – Part 2
In My Re-wilded Garden – Part 3

Thanks for stopping by

Until next time,
Your friend
The Dorset Rambler

If you would like to contact me, my email address is terry.yarrow@gmail.com – comments and feedback are always welcomed.

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