Back in my comfort zone today, and on the first really spring-like day of the year, I took over six hundred photos of insects engaged in various activities. This might not be technically the best of them, but when you take into account the fact that the Honeysuckle Sawfly was behind the shoot as I looked at it from in front of the plant, so I had to virtually climb inside the honeysuckle with her even to check what she was doing, and then lean back at an uncomfortable angle to get as much of her as possible in focus – and all at t’ai chi speed so as not to frighten her off her important work… well, I know I’m bigging it up, but honestly – it’s not bad.
Moments after untangling myself from the plant I realised that there was a second female about a foot away from this one, also engaged in laying eggs. This was the first time I’d ever seen two of these sawflies together, and the first time I’d ever seen even one ovipositing, let alone two, so I was quite excited. I remembered commenting when I posted the first specimen of the season that I’d if I could find some larvae they might suggest a species level identification, and knowing where there are some eggs can only be helpful in finding larvae later, so I scuttled back to the house and fetched a clothes peg, and as soon as this female had finished laying and moved on, I used it to fix and mark the stem. The second female had chosen a longer and looser stem that was blowing around too much for me to even photograph her, and she was still clinging to it when I gave up trying and moved on to other victims subjects.
