More varied guests

Moth trapping is on hold because the rain has come, which is welcome in every other respect as our vegetables are mostly young and tender, apart from the venerable rhubarb and broccoli which have come into their own during the lockdown.  Even before the damp, the nights were pretty cold and the moth trap relatively quiet; a couple of mornings ago its moth inhabitants were a Swallow Prominent and a Pebble Prominent, both crouching in their feline, ready-to-pounce position, and the very pretty Powdered Quaker, shown left. Outside on the heavily-dewed grass, this Brimstone was easy to spot - for me, but apparently not for our ever-inquisitive robin.

Yesterday's sunshine, before the first raindrops in early evening, brought the usual crop of Spring butterflies, along with this delicate Large Red Damselfly, the first of its kind that I've seen this year - and my first damselfly sighting sent to iRecord, which has emboldened me to find out more about flying creatures which are not butterflies or moths. There are plenty of these in the trap over the year and here are some recent ones, whose IDs I'm trying to sort out, at least in terms of family, before asking iRecord. It's heartening that the prospect of actually finding out their species has become a genuine possibility; and if I can get the iPhone to focus sufficiently, some of them are rather amazing.  Take the fly - if that is what it is - in my first picture, with its featherlike antennae.

Caddis flies next, and I think that the first is Limnephilus affinis, previously sent to iRecord and identified there. I dare not be so bold with the second one and I am uncertain about whether the third and fourth are affinis again.  We'll see what iRecord's expert says in due course. Their generosity with time and knowledge is terrific and much-appreciated.

Ignorance likewise reigns here over this fly, but simply focussing on these small and often irritating creatures brings the reward of seeing their little differences. The pair in the second picture look particularly intimidating. I wonder if they are in the family known as 'Soldier Flies'.

The two caddis flies are further candidates for ID but I think I recognise the Dor, or Dung, Beetle below. Some kind of ichneumon fly brings up the rear, differing from the first one I despatched to iRecord  (where it was identified as Ophion scutellaris) because it has black legs.