Latest photos

Detail head green shield bug, made with magnification 10 and f/7.1 using a Canon 7D, a Canon macrolens MP-E 65mm/f2.8 and a Canon 2x teleconverter. The green shield bug (Palomena prasina) is a shield bug of the family Pentatomidae. It may also be referred to as a green stink bug, particularly outside of Britain, although the name green stink bug more appropriately belongs to the larger North American stink bug, Acrosternum hilare. The adult green shield bug ranges in the colour of their backs from bright green to bronze, without any substantial markings. Green shield bugs are a very common shield bug throughout Europe, including the British Isles, and are found in a large variety of habitats, including gardens. In Europe, the bright green shield bugs appear in May, having hibernated as imagos during the winter (Source: Wikipedia).

Detail head of a robber fly. The picture has been made with magnification factor 8 and f/6.3, using a Canon 7D and the Canon macrolens MP-E 65mm/f2.8. The fly was alive and doing its business when the picture was made in our garden. It is a slingle picture made without using a tripod. Insects in the Diptera family Asilidae are commonly called robber flies. The family Asilidae contains about 7,100 described species worldwide. All robber flies have stout, spiny legs, a dense moustache of bristles on the face (mystax), and 3 simple eyes (ocelli) in a characteristic depression between their two large compound eyes. The mystax helps protect the head and face when the fly encounters prey bent on defense. The antennae are short, 3-segmented, sometimes with a bristle-like structure called an arista. The short, strong proboscis is used to stab and inject victims with saliva containing neurotoxic and proteolytic enzymes which paralyze and digest the insides; the fly then sucks the liquefied meal through the proboscis. Many species have long, tapering abdomens, sometimes with a sword-like ovipositor. Others are fat-bodied bumblebee mimics. Adult robber flies attack other flies, beetles, butterflies and moths, various bees, ants, dragon and damselflies, Ichneumon wasps, grasshoppers, and some spiders (source: Wikipedia).