Find these utterly adorable!
Upton Magna - Shropshire (Sept 22)
Tags: Dot Ladybird Stethorus pusillus Coleoptera Coccinellidae Coccinelle Scymninae Ladybird Beetle Insect Insignificants Inconspicuous ladybird Upton Magna Shropshire Rockwolf Micro ladybird
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Last Friday, it was sunny in the morning, but it typically clouded over and rained as I headed out at lunchtime... I explored a field nearby, and started to find Scymnus haemorrhoidalis in grass tussocks along the fence line around the field. The most I'd previously found in one outing was 4, during a five mile walk. Here, I sometimes got up to 5 individuals from a tussock!
In the end, I found 23 of these little ladybirds!!! That was in just ~ 200 m of fence line! I had such difficulty tearing myself away, as I can only wonder at how many more I might have found if I'd carried on, but I had to get back to the office!! I was half hour late as it is!!
Upton Magna - Shropshire
Tags: Scymnus haemorrhoidalis Red-rumped Ladybird Beetle Ladybird Insect Insignificants Inconspicuous ladybird Coccinellidae Coleoptera Coccinelle Scymninae Upton Magna Shropshire Rockwolf Micro ladybird
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This very tiny, very shiny round blob came out of a grass tussock, looking quite similar to an Oribatid mite at first glance, but it wasn't quite right for that. Looking with my lens, I immediately realised it was a species of beetle I'd always wanted to see, a Clambidae. I patiently waited, and waited.... and slowly, but surely, the blob came alive!
Posting on Twitter, Steph Skipp suggested that it might in fact be Leiodidae, Agathidium sp, which looked much better for it! Not what I thought, but it behaves in the same way!!
Pics in comments viewable large.
Upton Magna - Shropshire
Tags: Leiodidae Agathidium sp Coleoptera Beetle Insect Upton Magna Shropshire Rockwolf
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David and I spent some time searching through Bulrushes yesterday, with no luck, so it was a great surprise when our target turned up, out of a grass tussock at the base of a tree, around the edge of the pond!!
Prees Heath - Shropshire
Tags: Spotted Marsh Ladybird Coccidula scutellata Beetle Ladybird Insect Coleoptera Coccinellidae Coccinelle Insignificants Scymninae Inconspicuous ladybird Prees Heath Shropshire Rockwolf Micro ladybird
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Been a while since I uploaded one!
Bicton - Shropshire (Oct 22)
Tags: Rhyzobius lophanthae Beetle Red-headed Ladybird Coleoptera Coccinellidae Coccinelle Scymninae Insect Ladybird Insignificants Inconspicuous ladybird Bicton Shropshire Rockwolf Micro ladybird
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