It's Saturday July 18th 2026 and I'm paying a visit to one of my favourite haunts.
I arrive at Comfort's Wood at 11:47am and leave at 13:01pm.
This then is a blog update all about what I found and photographed in those 74 minutes.
Alebra wahlbergi or albostriella: A Leafhopper
A Ribbed Cocoon-Making Moth...Cocoon Possibly Bucculatrix species
A Pollen or Sap Beetle
A Birch Catkin Bug Nymph
Bombus muscorum perhaps?
A Bordered Orb Weaver Spider
A Brassica Bug
A Hoverfly: Cheilosia illustrata, I think.
A Cinnabar Moth Larva
A Common Carder Bee (?)
A Delicate Apple Capsid Bug - Malacocoris chlorizans
Dicyphus errans or pallidus- A Plant Bug
A European Garden Spider
Evancanthus interruptus: A Leafhopper
A Froghopper
A Green Shieldbug Nymph
There were lots and lots of hopper moults to be found on this day...
A Hoverfly: Leucozona laternaria
Unsure of this one. Possibly just a drone fly?
Issus coleoptratus: A Planthopper
A Green Lacewing
A Lacewing Larva (Trash Bug)
A Hoverfly: Myathropa florea (Plus Ichneumon Parasitic Wasp in second image)
The Mystery Object: Google Lens says a Mantis Ootheca!
An Oak Bush Cricket Nymph
Posss: Phalangium opilio a Harvestman
A Plant Bug (Still requires identity)
This was a really interesting find for me. This spider has been identified as probably being Episinus maculipes. It's a nationally scarce, Comb-footed Spider with only one previous record anywhere close to here.
Valenzuela flavidus A Barkfly
A Ragwort Flea Beetle
A Red-legged Shieldbug
Rhingia rostrata A Snout-Hoverfly
Rutpela Maculata - A Spotted Longhorn Beetle
A Scorpion Fly Possibly Panorpa communis
Another Spider moult
Spider with lunch
Tachina fera: A Tachinid Fly
A tiny Unidentified Weevil. It could be a Clover Weevil?
3 Tortoise Bugs
Zonocyba bifasciata A Leafhopper
And that concludes my finds. Quite a nice amount for the short amount of time I spent in the woods on this day.
I apologise for this being just a factual update, bereft of any humour or trivia, but these are strange times and my life is currently reflecting that.
