Cruel summer

Having had a taste of beautiful uninterrupted sunshine for 2 weeks the British weather has struck a cruel blow for all manner of insects. Last night there was torrential rain and any sign of insect activity has been crushed to the forest floor. Plants and ferns lay battered and bruised this morning along with the insects that only yesterday would have been basking and mating in the sunshine. I crouched, watching a huge bee try to recover it's rain sodden wings and fly off the forest floor, taking a full 5 minutes before it's wings had shaken off the rain and were once again whirring with the familiar buzz of activity.

ladybird larva- taken last week in the hope of tracking it's progress. There were masses of these on the grass verge last week, today I could only find one pupa

the only ladybird  pupa I could find today



14 spot lady bird

a leaf beetle of some description; order :coleoptera, family:chrysomelidae

soldier beetles

weevils