imagine my suprise

[bandit 1]

Hiya All,

I got the shock of my life yesterday, I was hunting around for something to shoot & thought, I know lets have a look in the old dustbin that I filled with leaves & light sticks Etc. last year.

Bloody hell when I lifted the lid a huge swarm flew up into my face, I did manage to stay still & not panic plus kept the same pair of pants on :lol::lol:

Anyway as luck would have it they were H.F's by the thousand, but in my shock & excitment the shots that I took were not that good, the worst of it was that I didn't manage to capture the ' Swarm ' I've never seen the like of it before & probable never again it was like a plague of Locusts quite incredible:grin:

I think these are Milesia crabroniformis ???

The only reason that I think of that so many were together was that I heavily trimmed a ' Buddleia globosa ' this I know gets covered in HF so I'm geussing that the leaves must have been covered in larvae when I packed all the cutting in the old dustbin, I kid not there were thoiusands of em it would have mad e a brilliant shot, shame I missed it :rolleyes:

There was also a very fat & health looking Spider in there :lol:

Cheers for now
Mark

[bandit 1]

#2 is my rather feeble attempt to capture the 'swarm ' after a rushed lens drop & change after all that I only captured six :o:lol::lol::lol:

[racketman]

well who would have expected that - i'm suprised they were comfortable in a rather enclosed enviroment like that. I'm not familiar with that Buddleia but having Googled I see it has yellow flowers packed in a ball rather than the spikey purple ones I associate with buddleia. Maybe I should plant one.

[andrew748]

that's pretty mad :D

[bandit 1]

Hiya Toby, Andrew,

Many thanks for you kind words & comments,

Toby, if you get the chance to plant one then do so but you'll need to keep it under control as with most Buddleias if your garden is small, I think it's common name is 'Orange Ball Tree' & grow to about six meters. I've not actually got one in my garden my new neighbours has it in his so I'm luck to benefit from looking at it & only having to cut back the over growth.

Thought I'd leave the lid on for a couple of days then take another peek but this time I'll have my 17-70 plus my nerves ready:lol: just in case a load more have hatched

Andrew,
I tell you I don't get easily startled but this time I got caught out good n proper, nearly jumped out my skin :o:lol:

Cheers for now
Mark

[LordV]

LOvely shots Mark- a Myathropa florae swarm - was there any water in it- think the larvae of this are similar to dronefly larvae- ie rat-tailed maggots in stagnant water.

Brian V.

[bandit 1]

Hiya Brian,

Many thanks for your kind words & comments,

There was some what could be loosely described as water in the bottom of the dustbin but as no rain could get in it musta been the liquid from the rotting vegetation & condensation, Prober anzum drop o stuff fur Matoes, :lol:

One thing's for sure I'll be doing the same thing with the cutting this yr. for next yrs swarm:D

Thanks for the ID :D


Don't but I'm off to paint a ' Castle this morn ' :lol::p

Cheers for now
Mark