Nice Legs!!!

Better detail, longer legs!

As I'm still on leave this week I did my usual blip-hunt after feeding Tom this morning. I first went to the thistle patch at the bottom corner of the paddock - I'd seen what I was sure is a Scorpion fly there a couple of times in the last few days (the first I've ever seen as far as I can recall), but hadn't been able to get a shot of it - which annoyed me as it's a gorgeous looking insect. I almost nabbed my second ever shot of a Green-veined White butterfly as soon as I arrived - there was one perched on a thistle, I moved in, then just as I was about to press the button the damned thing flew off, aaargh! But not long after lo-and-behold, the Scorpion fly was there again and this time I did manage to catch it on camera. I really thought that was my blip, though wasn't sure about the overall quality of it.

But on the way back to the cottage I also stopped by the thistle patch at the top end near the horses' shelter. As I was browsing for suitable things to blip, as a backup in case the Scorpion fly shot proved poor, I noticed the grass near the front of the patch moving. On closer inspection I saw this chap, a common Crane fly (Tiplula maxima), crawling through the grass. I don't often see these except when they're flying around. So I took a few shots of it.
On uploading to my laptop I far preferred this to the Scorpion fly shot, so the Crane fly's my blip for today.

Here's the Scorpion fly (Panorpa germanica), definitely a male due to the large red 'bulb' at the end of its tail, which the females don't have. I'm hoping to get a better shot of it to blip on another day.

I'm glad I did manage to get my blip this morning - I needed to go to Norwich this afternoon, and soon after I arrived back the rain started, just as had been predicted!