Insects in my garden 2024

Feel free to post your pictures @pitter-patter
I saw this week an exotic insect but by the time I changed from the tele to the ordinary lens, that insect was gone. over the week I saw lots of tiny ones but they are so tiny and fast, no chance to see and take a picture.

 

Thanks @Papi Jo for your contribution

 

I hope spiders are allowed… They do a great job decorating for Halloween in October.

Hoverfly - helophilus pendulus

Damselfly - we get lots of them during the summer

 

I rarely see beetles in the garden but spotted this today. I have no idea what type it is but it was just over an inch long.

 

@Sheal is it an oil beetle?

 

Great pictures.
I haven't much going on in my garden or maybe it's because I can't really enter the garden until the tits have left. Just a few days to go.

 

I had one of those on one of the hellebores a few days ago @Papi Jo. Crane flies are in large numbers round here just now - no winter, so the larvae have been in more lawns than usual too, so the crows/magpies and starlings have been getting plenty of food.
Little shield bug on the shed door recently, but no photos. It's early to be seeing those here.
Ladybirds aren't too common, but they like sitting on the washing...
This was a few weeks ago.

 

I made it into the garden while the Tits were on food hunt.











As a close-up

 

@simone_in_wiltshire I really wouldn't worry about your nestlings as they get used to seeing you around. At the moment Mr Robin is so busy he is not waiting for me to finish loading up the mealworms and is in there with my hand as they go in... He almost landed on me head yesterday - could have been very messy...

 

@DiggersJo Robins are far more open minded than tits. Robins are looking for gardeners because they could get worm. My Tits are very nervous if I am close to the greenhouse. Just a few days and the youngsters are on their own and have left the house.

 

I'm sure they love us really...

 

Yes it does look likely, thanks @cactus_girl.

 

The Tits won't be bothered by you being around @simone_in_wiltshire, they will just keep an eye on you from a distance until you've gone. I have them nesting in a box outside my kitchen window and currently feeding young. This morning I was cleaning windows outside just 2ft from the box. And my noisy petrol mower doesn't disturb them either, even though that's pushed right underneath.

 

@Sheal the tits that I had two years ago, I agree, but the tits this year are different. Will not take long and I can use my garden over the day. Not the shed which is occupied by a sleeping hedgehog, but I don’t mind. I’m happy to share

 

The small birds are all well used to me being quite near them, so they aren't too bothered, although the magpies have taken up residence in the conifer which has put the blue tits off using the nest box.
My shed is also very near the feeders, and the conifer too, and the birds are often only a few feet away from me when using those, but aren't too bothered by me going in and out.