Ladybird larva

Back to work after a bank holiday weekend. Lots of catching up to do as most of our contacts are in Korea, Japan, China and India and so haven't had a day off.

Still a bit blowy at lunchtime so chasing insects was a bit tricky. Being half term, there were also lots more people about and I did get an odd look as I was stalking a tortoiseshell butterfly along one of the verges.

There were lots of ladybird larvae around - not sure if they were harlequin or standard ones - this one seems to have found a good food source. There were also lots of mating ladybirds on the nettles so I expect there will be lots more larvae around in a few weeks time.

Came across a group of peacock caterpillars on the nettles too. They were moving fast on a moving nettle leaf so it was difficult to get a decent picture.

When I got home I took a few shots of bees and greenbottle flies on the pyracantha flowers. Looking at them later with son number two, we talked about pollen sacs on bees and why the greenbottle had so many hairs. Think I managed to blag my way to an answer .......the trouble with 17 year-olds is that they need a better explanation than 7 year olds!