The late spring flowers are in full bloom at the observatory, and lots of insects are enjoying the all-you-can-eat buffet. This isn’t a bee because it’s only got one set of wings. it’s some sort of fly. This is some sort of moth, but as you can see I photographed it in broad daylight. I’m getting better at sharp close-ups. And finally a little fly who obligingly posed for me…
I’m doing lots of tour guiding and steadily working on the book, but I made time to go out for a photo stroll with a friend. Oddly, the best pictures of the day came when I stopped at the visitor centre on the way home.
These really are bugs in the technical sense: they’re insects in the order Hemiptera, which are called “true bugs”, or “Chinche” in Spanish. These particular ones are pyjamas bugs (because of the stripes, I presume) Graphosoma interruptum. They’re about 12mm long. They’re all on wild carrot, Daucus carota. Most of the plants around here are going to seed now. I even found one pair mating. at least I think that’s…
Look what I found on a walk in the Caldera. It’s huge for an insect – that body is about as big as my thumb. It was fluttering along as though it had only just come out of its chrysalis and its wings weren’t quite working yet, so I managed to get several photos. I thought it was a moth because of the fluttering movements and the thick body, but…
