Life in the Eco park ivy hedge on Hallowe'en

Thanks to the ivy hedge there was life, shape and colour to photograph all in one place. I've had a go at updating this page with details about the insects shown but, as with trees, I find it very difficult to tell them apart because the subtleties of the distinctions between them are often just that - subtle.

The photographs below at the above-mentioned ivy hedge were all taken on Friday. Only a day later today was grey and cold and had precious little charm about it. I had the both the honour and the deep regret of accompanying one of my closest friends to Heathrow to wave him away to a new life in the U.S.. As we sat at the bar having a farewell drink I looked out through the window and saw that snow was falling on Terminal 3. It was very pretty for a moment but by the time I had regretfully delivered Rory to Departures, and left the Terminal to locate the tube station, the snow had metamorphosed into to an absolute downpour of rain. The deluge didn't let up for the rest of the day.

The seven day forecast is not a happy one but hopefully there will be a few dry moments in the coming weeks when I can trundle over the road with the camera and see what's going on. Failing that, Les Butler seems to be far more resilient than me and his blog (see menu right) has some absolutely stunning recent photographs.

Ivy flower
Hedera helix

Shield Bug, but it's difficult to tell which one.
Coreus marginatus?

Phaonia valida (possibly - insects aren't my strong point!)
A specie of horsefly

Wasp
I'm not even taking a rough guess on traying to narrow this one down!




Dung fly
Scathophagidae

More than slightly out of focus, unfortunately
Les Butler has much better examples on his blog, one of which can be found on a recent post by clicking here. It is accompanied by many other really lovely photographs.