Invertebrates have been a bit hard to come by recently, but no sweeping or beating were involved in me getting this photo: I was simply walking across the yard when I spotted the Hairy Shieldbug soaking up some rays on a dead honeysuckle leaf.
There’s something about the colours and textures within this image that I really like, and I was pretty sure that the first shot of the day would turn out to be best, but I carried on around the garden anyway, and found dozens of other insects taking advantage of the sunshine. Most were either Green Shieldbugs or Parent Bugs, but there were also some soldierflies and hoverflies around, as well as a couple of Tachina fera who I think were probably responsible for the parasitoid eggs that several of the Parent Bugs were carrying. It always makes me a bit sad to see bugs pottering about while unknowingly wearing the seeds of their own destruction, but tachinids have their place in the balance of the ecosystem, and given the unusually large number of Parent Bugs I saw today I don’t think a few flies are a significant threat to the colony.
