Wed 12/07/16

I saw a really nice emerald moth on the outside wall of the office block as I was coming in to work early this morning. The weather was drizzly though, and it was overcast and a bit dark, so I didn’t try to take a photo; I thought I might try later if it was still there. I didn’t think about it again until lunchtime though, and it had already bogged off. Never mind, I got some other surprisingly decent shots amongst the overgrown plot out the front. Bugs first – I don’t remember ever seeing this particular species before; note that one has bluish-grey spots and the other, larger one (probably the female) has creamy-yellow. I'm pretty sure this is the brassica bug Eurydema oleracea

Next, we have this rather wonderful little spider inhabiting a clump of ragwort. This is Enoplognatha ovata, a common species of about 6mm in length, which Wikipedia describes as “a formidable predator which can prey on insects many times its size.” In fact this enterprising chappie seems to have bagged three hoverflies at once, which is pretty neat going. It’s also very variable in markings; we get a lot of these in the garden at home, but very often a creamy white, sometimes a bit greenish, with a couple of lines of black spots. This one though, has a V-shaped candy stripe on its back; very nice indeed.