Ox-eyes

I have various patches of Ox-eye Daisies around the back garden. They are untidy things but I love them for all the insects they attract. As soon as the sun comes out all sorts of insects visit them. Today they had some Carpet Beetles (Anthrenus verbasci) on them. The larvae of Carpet Beetles eat various fibres including wool and therefore can be a pest of carpets. The adults feed on pollen which is why they are attracted to the pollen-rich Ox-eyes.




This is a capsid bug, Calocoris major.



And another bug.



To my amazement I had a new (to me) hoverfly appear – Eupeodes cortollae. It is a common species but I have never photographed it before. That brings my total of hoverfly species to 44, I think.



I think this is Colletes succinctus – a bee. I’m not very good at identifying bees. It doesn’t help that the key identification features are often the wing pattern – which is hard to see – and the length and breadth of the tongue – even harder!