Saturday 22 October 2016

Common Wasp

The Common Wasp [Vespula Vulgaris] is a late flying insect in Britain and flies between July and  November. These particular Wasps can be found around most of the world in counties such as China, Australia, New Zealand, India and Europe.

A female Common Wasp hunting for food/insects for her siblings back at the nest
in late July

A Common Wasp taking a drink from my Garden pond

A fresh Queen Common Wasp in my garden, late October. This Queen will find somewhere to
hibernate for the winter before starting her own colony in the spring.

Saturday 1 October 2016

Small Heath

The Small Heath is commonly found throughout the U.K. in any grassland habitat, fields, roadside verges, woodland clearings etc. And normally spend a large part of their time well down in amongst the vegetation.

A male Small Heath where you would normally find this species

The male is smaller than the female and are quite similar in appearance but not the same.

A male Small Heath showing the undersides of it's wings and,
a rare glimpse of a small part of the upper wing.

The female's forewing undersides are a lighter orange in colour to that of the males which are slightly darker.

A female Small Heath 

Both sexes always land [roost, feeding etc.] with their wings closed. The upper side of the wings in both sexes are orange, again the females are slightly lighter than the males. There are two, sometimes three broods a year. They fly between late April and late June/early July and, between late July/late September and, if there is a third brood, October. They overwinter as a caterpillar in stages/instars.