Learning about Scorpionflies - Panorpa communis
We've been collecting waste washing-up water just outside the house in yellow Gorilla tubs. The reason is that we have our own supply of water and with the unusually long dry weather we need to be very careful. We use this 'grey' water to keep the plants going.
Unfortunately I'm not able to cover the tubs because they're rather unstable so when I go out to empty the washing up bowl I hope I don't find creepy crawlies drowned in the water.
The other day I found this striking insect.
It was still alive and after quickly taking a couple of photos, I rescued it with a little stick and put it to dry on the leaves nearby.
I am not sure whether it survived or not. I would like to think it did because I went to check later and it was nowhere to be seen... That would be a happy ending.
As for what it was, I eventually found out. I searched high and low to be honest, but the main issue was describing the insect properly to come up with possible options.
I did take the wrong course and learnt a bit about clearwing moths, but those spots on the wings kept me searching... In the end I repeated the search 'insect, long antennae, long spotted transparent wings'.
Fortunately, I came across this great photo here. Once I had a name tag, it was up to me how much of the overwhelming information available I could take in.
I found out that there are various types of scorpion flies. From the descriptions I decided my specimen was clearly a female. I am not going to repeat everything I read on this page, but I must confess I was quite relieved I was able to 'name' it. I found out that scorpion flies like to live near nettles and hedges; they also tend to scavenge dead insects.
It was indeed a beautiful looking insect.
all photos by @cryptocariad
Interesting about you conserving water. When you have your own water source you have a different perspective than when you just turn on the taps :) beautiful insect picture. many of the most humble bugs are quite pretty if you give them a close look.
Thank you @steven-patrick and, indeed : it makes you more aware of how much water you are actually throwing away ! I wish I had more skills to build a proper system to re-use that sort of water.
I love when learning happens organically from life events
Indeed @thriftymum... What you learn is more relevant and more likely to be recalled later - I hope :D
Your persistent paid off! There are so many things to learn, and it can take all day just to identify one.
I totally agree @icybc... I can't do this sort of 'research' continuously because I keep having to do other things as well, but I think I owed it to that poor creature, which got caught in the water butt, to find out what it actually was... :D
You've done an excellent job of catching the pattern on the wings and not dropping your camera in a bucket of water :)
Here is a little spider pretending to have massive fangs:
😂.. exactly @gmatthe2... I did think of that... and that spider ? was it near you ? I would have jumped after taking the photo 😂
It was only the size of my pinky nail, so not frightening. I probably terrified the poor thing taking so many photos trying to get the focus right. You can't see it but the wall is actually a very light cream and most of the spider is brown with the fake front legs a darker brown/black. From a distance they really do look like enormous fangs.
Oh I did see that straightaway @gmatthe2... The legs have a 'nice design' though :D