As flowers such as Hardheads, Thistles, Borage and Bramble come into bloom, a great variety of different insects can be found here too. Butterflies, wasps, bees, hoverflies and much more visit these nectar-rich flowers, providing a great place to observe these cool creatures. Again, I have included a couple of shots of my favourites below, but many more have been giving me a good challenge for IDing.
The Common Wave (moth) is a species that is relatively frequent in the willow beds in the lowland areas of Bardsey, being encountered most often during the day. I used a slight studio set-up and with a head torch to highlight the superb bipectinate antenna of this male
Grayling butterflies are a species encountered during July and August on the rocky areas at the top of Bardsey's mountain. We carried out a survey of the mountain on Friday to get an idea of the number present here- the result was a figure just shy of 80, including a mating pair
I find this species just too cool- the Ruby-tailed Wasp is my favourite hymenoptera species by a long way at the moment!
This appears to be the nymph of a Green Shield Bug, walking gingerly around on a bramble leaf
A new species for me, and one that has since showed up a few times: Ectemnius lapidarius
Six-spot Burnets are having a bit of a poor year on the island, perhaps due to the weather. Day counts so far this month have barely exceeded 10, whilst figures should normally be in the hundreds
A different take on this indoor-living Pholcus phalagioides
Honey Bees are busy gathering nectar from the flowering Bell heather to supply the colony just above the Schoolhouse