Spiders, Beetles and Bugs

Not many of them, it's not my main area of interest but I always end up taking a few pictures during the year and then don't find the time to research and identify them. They usually wait until we get a wet and windy winters day when I have nothing better to do.


Three spiders, all easy to identify. An interesting area to explore but it's difficult to get decent photographs and the identification, once you get away from the more obvious ones, can be really time consuming. Perhaps I just need to have a "Big Spider Year".

Common Garden Spider - Araneus diadematus

Zebra Spider - Salticus scenicus

Green Orb-weaver - Araniella cucurbitina

Beetles and Shieldbugs next. These are really just a by-product of taking pictures of butterflies. It's just fascinating how much life exists in the vegetation but you just don't see it unless you stop and look.

Black and Yellow Longhorned beetle - Rutpela maculata

Cantharis rustica - one of the soldier beetles

Common Red Soldier Beetle - Rhagonycha fulva

Sulphur Beetle - Cteniopus sulphureus

Thick-legged Flower Beetle - Oedemera nobilis

Oedemeridae group of beetles probably Oedemera lurida

Shieldbugs I particularly like. They are relatively easy to identify and there are only around forty four species recorded in the UK. Just the right sort of number for a life list, challenging but achievable. Not sure that I want to go in for netting or hoovering though, so it would be difficult to find them all.

Hairy Shieldbug - Dloycoris Baccarum

Red-legged Shieldbug - Pentatoma rufipes

Red-legged Shieldbug - Pentatoma rufipes

Common Green Shieldbug - Palomena prasina

Came into the house on the Christmas tree and trying to get out through the double glazing

Common Green Shieldbug - Palomena prasina

Only one problem, you need to be careful not to confuse them with Squash Bugs, family Coreidae, that can look very similar. This one below the Dock Bug.

Dock Bug - Coreus marginatus

The last picture, a Harlequin Ladybird, an invasive and problematic species. It out competes our native ladybirds for food and also eats their larvae and eggs. I rarely see any other ladybirds these days.

Harlequin Ladybird -  Harmonia axyridis

More to follow with Flies and Hoverflies.