Kemsing Insects

Orange Ladybirds, Hazlya sedecimguttata, on Spindle, Euonymus europaeus.
Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

Most of the insects on our Kemsing Down trip were actually in hedgerows and a churchyard at the edge of the town, not up on the windy hilltop.  These Orange Ladybirds were in a hedge, as was this Harlequin, seen here on my hand:

Harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis forma succinea.  Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

This Beefly was roaming around the churchyard.

Beefly, Bombylius major.
Churchyard of the Church of St. Mary, Kemsing, with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

It is a fly, not a bee, though its body does look bee-like.  Perhaps this affords it some protection from predators.  But it's unmistakeable to human eyes, with that long proboscis and the dark pattern on its wings.

Also in the hedgerow:

Green Shield Bug, Palomena prasina.  Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

A Green Shield-bug, or Stink-bug.  It's a true bug, with sucking mouthparts.  It is well camouflaged against the leaves.  Close to, it has an amazing texture.

And some more from the hedgerow; here are three species of Hoverfly.

Hoverflies. Left to right: Melanostoma scalare (male), Epistrophe eligans and Meliscaeva cinctella (females).
Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

These don't have common names.  Many Hoverflies are striped and look dangerous.  That middle one, the Epistrophe eligans, looks particularly like a stinger, but they aren't, any of them.  They are faking it, and presumably it gives them some protection, like the Beefly.

I like Hoverflies.  They are colourful, there are lots of species, and there is a good chance of identifying them from their patterns, which you can't say of some other types of insect.

There is an easy way to tell males from females.  The big compound eyes of the males meet in the middle.  The females' eyes don't.