Wasp beetle and common crab spider
Back in May a wasp beetle was found and I got a few photos. It is a type of longhorn beetle that mimics a wasp to fool predators into thinking its dangerous. Also found was this common crab spider.
Pirate spider – Pirata piraticus
In June there were a number of pirate spiders Pirata piraticus living on the surface of the ponds so I caught one and placed it on the water surface in a photographic tank. I then got as low angle as possible to maximise reflection and impact of the image. This was the result:
Common lizard, grasshopper and nursery web spider
The day before visiting Rainham we went to a few other sites in Essex. We started in Epping Forest where we found some common lizards. Along with some meadow grasshoppers. This one started stridulating.. There were loads of migrant hawker dragonflies hunting over the scrub and heath, but none posed for photos. We then moved…
Marsh frogs, grass snake, common lizard and wasp spider
My final post from Rainham. The ‘other stuff.’ We saw 2 grass snakes, one of which I photographed. There were also a few wasp spiders, including one in a photographable position I got some nice photos of marsh frogs too And a nice one of a common lizard on the boardwalk.
Meadow and lesser marsh grasshoppers and a wasp spider
This evening I went for a quick walk around Wat Tyler CP and thought I’d check a wasp spider hotspot. Sure enough there were 3 webs with spider present. Only one was in a reasonable position for photography. They were eating the grasshoppers, like this lesser marsh grasshopper. And this meadow grasshopper. I got some…