Tricia's Tales: London Wetland Centre

Saturday 17 July 2010

London Wetland Centre - busy with insects.

Went over to the London Wetland Centre today. As is normal for this time of the year there were very few birds around. Not even Blue or Great Tits. The Terns were flying and looking for fish and the Sand Martins buzzed about near the Peacock Tower. Three Little Ringed Plovers out on the scrape and a Black Tailed Godwit (but I didn't see it)

Met a few people I know and we wandered through the reserve. The birds may have been few but the insects were many. Unfortunately the wind was strong and blustery making taking pictures of insects nigh on impossible.

However.. yellow seemed to be the colour of the day and these cone flowers were buzzing with life.

A blue flutter landed but wouldn't open its wings..

Echinacea was blooming

A pair of damsels ensuring continuity

A very large Hoverfly

I then changed to the Macro 90mm prime lens. The wind and lack of tripod made taking these quite a challenge!

And this Skipper looked quite terrifying close too.

No idea what this tiny being is..

Edit: thanks to Richard for ID of Red Bug.

And a grasshopper (or cricket?)

Edit: Thanks to Richard for his ID of Long-winged Conehead

So as long as you kept your eyes open and looked very closely into the flowers and grasses, there was a great deal to be seen.

7 comments:

Eagleseagles said...: Took the yr 4's to Barnes on Wednesday - there are a lot less bins for kids there now!
Went to the collections area - lots of babies! great for kids...and left the Cranes till last - they loved them - especially as one came right up to the decking and we could have almost touched her!

the adventure place was great and wet!
the pond dipping brilliant - what a great bloke and for the other group an equally great woman!; 17 July 2010 at 20:01
Richard said...: Hi Tricia, I think your insects are Red Bug and Long-winged Conehead. Excellent photos.
Richard; 17 July 2010 at 21:30
ST said...: 'ensuring continuity'
A brilliant expression.

you won't believe this but the word verification is 'Flysin', on topic; 17 July 2010 at 22:19
holdingmoments said...: You did a good job with the macro Tricia. I tried, and gave up lol
I've noticed a lot of Six-spot Burnets about recently.; 18 July 2010 at 21:03
Anonymous said...: Great macro shots! Love the criket/grasshopper thingy.; 18 July 2010 at 22:36
oldcrow61 said...: Wonderful shots Tricia. I agree, you have to look closely at the plants to see all the wonders they contain.; 19 July 2010 at 11:01
Tricia Ryder said...: Glad your year 4's had a good time. There always seem to be several schools visiting.

Richard thank you yet again for your help with the IDs and your comment. Always appreciated.

ST - thank you.. and word verification is often apt isn't it lol

Keith - I keep trying with Macro and was surprised with the results as it was extremely windy!! I'd love a 150mm lens though... :D

Digi - Thank you. Richard has advised that it's a Long-Winged Conehead so it's no longer anonymous!

OC - thank you. Nature's so clever as an engineer and and expert at construction isn't it :D; 21 July 2010 at 08:27