Friday, 25 Sep 2026

My walk today was badly timed, with the cloud cover only giving way to sunshine as I arrived home. As a result, there was not much insect movement. There was only one butterfly seen. That was a Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria), which was last recorded almost 3 weeks ago.

There were no Ivy Bees on the ivy flowers this morning, presumably they were waiting for sunnier conditions before emerging from their nests. There were, however, a good number of Honey Bees on the ivy, and I spotted a single Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) as well as a Marmalade Hoverfly.

There was little else that warranted a photo, apart from a final stage nymph of the Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis), found on a Dogwood leaf, and a fly that I believe belongs to the soldier fly family Stratiomyidae, possibly a Yellow-legged Centurion (Sargus flavipes), found on a Norway Maple leaf.

We’ve all had to dodge caterpillars dangling from silk threads while walking woodland paths. Had I not stopped to look at something else I may not have noticed the wriggling movement of a tiny caterpillar just a foot from my head, else it might have come home with me in my hair. I let it crawl onto my little finger to give my photo some scale. At this diminutive size, about all that can be said is that it is a larva, whether moth or sawfly I cannot tell.

The only other photo of the day was a mushroom, a Lurid Bolete (Suillellus luridus), which was first (and last) recorded on 30^th July 2025.

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