Lloyd Davies

The cutest Harvestmen in the garden in Shaftesbury, these tiny Rilaena triangularis will be adults next spring.

Two nice little finds with appropriate names from the Abbotsbury Beach today. One of the Golden Keyhole Weevils, Sibinia arenariae and the Rhombic Leatherbug, Syromastus rhombeus

Two nicely camouflaged spiders from the sand dunes at Studland, Dorset this week. Attulus saltator and Psammitis sabulosa.

A Heath Potter Wasp, Eumenes coarctatus, collecting just the right sort of mud to make pots. (Also visible in the background a Pavement Ant, Teramorium caespitum leaves its nest and returns with a selected stone)

A trip to Hartland Moor in Dorset is always special and on Thursday yielded some of my favourites. Rhysodromus histro and the Hornet Robberfly, Asilus craboniformes.

Another find from Morden Bog yesterday, this strange looking ant-like creature is a female Hump-backed Pincer Wasp, Gonatopus formicicolus. They use the pincers on the front legs (they look like folds in the pictures) to catch and hold Leafhopper nymphs so they can lay their eggs inside them.

A trip down to Morden Bog yesterday with some great finds, several new to me. The highlight was probably this Thread-legged Assassin Bug, Empicoris vagabundus.

I've been on the look out for this one in Dorset for decades and looking in the same spot for the last 6 years, but today I hit the jackpot, several Oak leaf retreats with adults and egg sacs and a couple of wondering adults. Green Huntsman Spider, Micrommata virescens.

The Dark-clawed Chthonic, Chthonius tenuis at Higher Hyde Heath Dorset today.

Higher Hyde Heath Dorset, Sand Lizards, Lacerta agilis, males enjoying the sun

A trip to Higher Hyde Heath reserve in Dorset, always a great place for late spring trips, I'll have to do three posts to get all my favourites in. First Euophrys (Talavera) petrensis. 2 male two female

There are a range of non-native flatworms in the garden in Shaftesbury including lots of Kontikia ventrolineata, but I'd never seen one that had recently produced an egg cocoon before .

A trip to Hartland Moor today, a real favourite for me. There was bright sun so lots out and about, I was too slow to photograph the lizards and the Green Tiger Beetles but managed to snap these boys; the V-Fronted Spider, Aelurillus v-insignitus and the Metallic Jumping Spider Evarcha arcuata

Gold on the beach! Some Cassida nobilis from Chesil Beach at Abbotsbury yesterday.

For more than fifty years I have enjoyed the spring activities of Newts, where I was growing up that was mainly Smooth Newts so it's a joy on the south Dorset heaths to see Palmate Newts, Lissotriton helveticus, like this male at Hartland Moor

I planned an exciting rock pooling trip to Kimmeridge but sadly a tide timing error and leaking wellingtons put pay to that, but I did find a beautiful Boat Bug, Enoplops scapha, a local favourite

Dorset is a greatbvplace for invertebrates,today I went down to Eype, my favourite site in the county. Always something new&exciting at all times of year. Here are my favourites of today. Uks smartest beetle the Chine Beetle, Drypta dentata and the most successful ant mimc spider Synnageles venatorr

A nice little Oak Jumping Spider, Ballus chalybeius, from the New Forest yesterday, not an Oak in sight but she didn't seem worried, spring must be on the way!

Poking around in winter Wood Ant nest at Grest Ovens Reserve in Dorset, I was very luck to find another Shiny Guest Ant, Formicoxenus nitidulus, and doubly so because this one was a queen.

I went out to Crates Wood near Shaftesbury to see if I could find this, the Winter Scorpion Fly or Snow Flea. This is a winter specialist, when I see them I always think of the Greeks and Trojans with bronze armour. Only a single male today, Boreus hyemalis

A species I have been on the lookout for for some time. This is the tiny Shiny Guest Ant, Formicoxenus nitidulus, this one was found inside a quiet Wood Ants' nest in South Dorset. It is a "guest' because it sets up its nest within Formica nests in the Uk and gets its food from them.

Some more Pseudoscorpions from Crates Wood, Shaftesbury. Two Moss Neobisid, Neobisium carcinoides with springtail prey and two photos of a Riddish Two-eyed Chelifer, Roncus lubricus

I went to Crates Wood near Shaftesbury which has lots of thick moss on the ground. I found lots of Pseudoscorpions mainly Moss Neobisid, Neosbisium carcinoides. Including one that spent a long time cleaning its palps and jaws, allowing a lucky shot showing the variable teeth on the fixed finger.

A new Harvestman for the garden in Shaftesbury, this is a relatively new species in the UK . Dicranopalpus larvatus

I rarely find Neobisium carcinoides so it was a good job that the Norfolk beetle recorder was on hand at NWT Sweet Briar Marshes yesterday to find this one for me. Martin is far better at finding these critters than me! #Arachtober #arachnids #pseudoscorpions

Daudebarbia rufa, first seen in the UK 2016. Fantastic day in South Wales with Naturalist Christian Owen who first found this species in the UK,also great thanks to Alastair Stevens for the invite.

A garden find from Shaftesbury this week, I occasionally see these in the house (usually the kitchen) but this is the first outdoor one I've seen. This is a Wine Cellar Spider, Psilochorus simoni carrying her eggs. (I do have a small cellar but rarely any wine for very long)

A Pseudoscorpion from the garden in Shaftesbury last week, this one is the Reddish Two-eyed Chelifer, Roncus lubricus.

Chthonius ischnocheles with an Orbatid mite meal, in the garden in Shaftesbury. They seem to like these!

A lovely trip down to Studland in Dorset, kept an eye out for Beavers but no luck, but did find some of my favourite spiders; Attulus saltator, Thomisus onustus, Rhysodromus histrio and Alopecosa barbipes (in almost Sandbear colours)

Tansy fun; I was photographing Colletes (similis?) and noticed a tiny Gall Midge, Ozirhincus hungaricus laying eggs in its florets, then coming along behind its parasitoid wasp Inostemma (reticulatum?) with an odd black pudding structure on its back housing a long ovipositor to parasitise them.

The Brown One. Harvestman, Nelima gothica exploring the wall in the garden in Shaftesbury. #gardenfinds #harvestman #dorset

A dapper chap from the garden in Shaftesbury this week, no females seen yet. Ornate Tailed Digger Wasp - Cerceris rybyensis

Seems to be lots of these in the garden in Shaftesbury at the moment. Never seen them before, enjoying the hot dry weather under the pine tree perhaps!

A tiny Spitting Spider, Scytodes thoracica cropped up in the kitchen this morning, one of my favourites!

Just back from a holiday in Italy and if I could bring back two species to join UK wildlife they would be the European Rhinoceros Beetle, Oryctes nasicornis and its Mammoth Wasp parasite, Megascolia maculata #biginsects

A male Bee Grabber from Eype, this one is probably Thecophora atra

A new one for me from Eype on the South Dorset coast, a great place for new stuff. This is Micropeza corrigiolata a Stilt Legged Fly.

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I have seen the non-native Wall Lizards, Podarcis muralis on the Purbeck coast of Dorset before but on a sunny day this week I got to take some photos for the first time. So beautiful!

Really excited and surprised to find this one in the garden in Shaftesbury today. A female Scarce Chaser, Libellula fulva. I think she must have flown miles to the hill top here from her slow flowing river and dyke habitat!

Another bright visitor to the garden in Shaftesbury, this one is a Handsome Fungus Beetle, Endomychus coccineus, sometimes called a False Ladybird. #gardenfinds #beetles

Some harvestmen from the garden in Shaftesbury, who stopped to pose for portraits. This is fairly normal for the three pictures of Rilaena triangularis but I was pleased to find a still Nemastoma bimaculatum, as these are usually always on the go! #gardenfinds #harvestman

Despite the cold weather yesterday, a bit of sunshine brought out a smart little spider at Higher Hyde Heath. This is a subadult male Euophrys pretensis, he’ll look even more striking next month! #spiders #heathfinds

One of my favorite spiders, from Great Ovens Heath in Dorset, the Sand Bear Spider, Arctosa perita. Because of its wonderful camouflage it will occasionally freeze, which is a great help to the photographer! #spiders

One of my favourite spiky Harvestmen, found at Fontmell Down, Dorset, Homalenotus quadridentatus.

One that popped up in my bedroom yesterday, the Twenty-plume Moth, Alucita hexadactyla. #gardenfinds #moths # feathers

Some finds from the garden in Shaftesbury yesterday. #gardenfinds #invertebrates These are 1. A woodlouse-like fly larva, Lonchoptera species, 2. A centipede-like Symphylan, Symphylella species probably vulgaris 3. A Springtail, Kalaphorura burmeisteri & 4. A Rosy Woodlouse, Androniscus dentiger

A bit of clear weather and I have been able to find a pseudoscorpion that I've not found in the garden in Shaftesbury before. The Reddish Two-Eyed Chelifer, Roncus lubricus. #gardenfinds

One idea for the New Year is to extend my photography and recording beyond invertebrates, I feel as yet overwhelmed by plants and fungi but will make a start on some vertebrates. Here are some probable Marsh Tits, Poecile palustris to start the ball rolling.