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• Post #4443349

  Cooler today, but still not much activity apart from the honeybees. I did see one of my favourites however – a buffalo treehopper (Stictocephala bisonia; 🇩🇪 Büffelzikade), & will try to get a head-on shot showing where the name comes from. That said, it's an invasive species from North America, now widespread in Europe. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #4119146

  It's 21 July, the Eagle has landed, & I've taken my new camera for its first walk in the garden. The Nikon Z6 III is a fearsomely capable beast & I've barely started to set it up, but here are some first shots with the 24-200mm lens. A large carpenter bee (genus Xylocopa) & a goldenrod crab spider (Misumena vatia). #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #4119111

  A good afternoon with my friend & partner @alexandermilas@mas.to, walking through the Saatchi Gallery’s Sun & Moon exhibition, & making plans in the pub for many new #SpaceRocks projects we have on the boil … And now after a hot & sweaty rush across London, time for this evening’s Prom at the Royal Albert Hall – Respighi’s Roman Trilogy, including that spine-tingling final march of the Roman army in Pini di Roma. A treat to be in the choir behind the orchestra too 🎶 #Music #Ph...

• Post #4119090

  A great pleasure to return to the London International Youth Science Forum under the leadership of Richard Myhill. Some 500 high school students from 90 countries, with a two week programme of lectures, trips, debates, & social events. They gave my #JWST talk a very kind reception & had many good questions. Perhaps the loudest & longest applause came though when I said “I don’t trust the tech / AI billionaires like Musk & Altman one iota.” There’s hope for us yet. #LIYSF #Ph...

• Post #3762389

  Didn't post these evening arthropods yesterday, but better late than never, eh? 🤷‍♂️ First, a new one for me: I've seen several genus Eristalis drone fly species over the years, but never E. arbustorum, the Eurasian drone fly (🇩🇪 Kleine Bienenschwebfliege), with its distinctive white abdomen bands. It's a female, btw. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #3724269

  Many new species around @mpi_astro@wisskomm.social today, in the meadows around the institute surrounded by forest, perhaps too many for me to post them all now. But here's a start: a small black & yellow fly (Conops flavipe; 🇩🇪 Wespendickkopffliege). #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #3701927

  Busy with telecons today, so not too much time in the garden. But still enough to spot some new species. First, a female red-spotted parasite fly (Eriothrix rufomaculata; 🇩🇪 Rotgefleckte Raupenfliege). Similar in abdomen colours & bristles to the various Cylindromyia tube flies, but fatter, & with a very different thorax. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #3630848

  Nothing especially new here, as these Mediterranean spotted chafers (Oxythyrea funesta; 🇩🇪 Trauer-Rosenkäfer) were very common in the garden a couple of months ago. But this is the first I've seen in ages, which took me a little by surprise. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #3583830

  Near the many bumblebees & honeybees feeding on the lavender, some leafcutter bees were patrolling the sweetpeas. Although I sometimes find it hard to separate the various species, these look to be male banded mud bees (Megachile ericetorum; 🇩🇪 Platterbsen-Mörtelbiene). #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #3522380

  The grift that never stops giving … straight into the pockets of the falsely lachrymose self-proclaimed Galileo of our age. An utter embarrassment to professional astronomy & another nail in the coffin of a nation sliding from its position of scientific pre-eminence. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/01/trump-alien-hunter-avi-loeb

• Post #3518247

  A profitable return to the lavender bush this evening – the black & white cloak & dagger bee was there again. I'm pretty sure now that this is indeed the rare & (according to the official German Rote Liste) highly endangered Thyreus orbatus (🇩🇪 Schwarzgesichtige Fleckenbiene). A few more pictures below. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #3496488

  Today marks the end of the first half of the year, so a brief summary of my arthropod finds so far. 326 species, with a few still to be processed & uploaded 😲 221 in my garden, 88 elsewhere locally in Germany, & 17 in Mallorca. This time last year, I'd photographed just 27 species, but ended with 195 by mid-December 😳✌️ #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #3479443

  Not to forsake my garden arthropods completely, here are a couple from this evening, just as the Sun was setting & the temperature went down a few millikelvin. First a red cabbage bug (Eurydema ornata; 🇩🇪 Schwarzrückige Gemüsewanze) in its away strip, & then a red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius; 🇩🇪 Steinhummel). #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #3476424

  While the blazing heat has thankfully subsided today, it's still warm & muggy, & uncomfortable in the sun. Which is probably why this colourful little leafhopper was seeking shade. It's Evacanthus interruptus, or Wiesen-Schmuckzikade in German. It doesn't appear to have an English name, despite being present in the UK. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #3449028

  And while I did venture out into the garden today, it was far too hot for me & seemingly also so for many insect friends. So it's back to pictures taken on the Königstuhl earlier this week. First, a small, colourful Arched Marble, a kind of tortrix moth (Olethreutes arcuella; 🇩🇪 Prachtwickler). #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #3381384

  Have been quiet on the arthropod photography front for a few days, partly due to the intense heat 🥵, but also thanks to a conference at @mpi_astro@wisskomm.social this week.. But from the Königstuhl today, here's a beautiful butterfly to keep things going: it's a scarlet tiger (Callimorpha dominula), nicely named Schönbär in German 🙂 #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #3332813

  Just one new garden species so far on this warm, overcast, & drizzly day. But it's a doozy ... 🙂 This is a white plume moth (Pterophorus pentadactyla). It has many names in German, but I like Schlehengeistchen, or little blackthorn ghost 👻 Hard to capture, hidden in the foliage, but well worth the effort 👍 #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #3308842

  My private Newgrange 🌞 As we approach the northern summer solstice, we get to see sunlight flooding into parts of our house it normally doesn’t reach. We live in a steep-sided valley & at certain times of the day, houses on the other side with angled roof windows line up with the Sun & reflect it horizontally into our living room. And as the house doing it today has two such windows, we get double shadows 🙂 #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷 #LightPainting 🎨

• Post #2847198

  Cloudy, partially wet day, but still a couple of interesting arthropods in the gaps. First, at home this morning, a new sawfly species for me: the Saddleback Grass-cutter (Eutomostethus ephippium; 🇩🇪 Sattelblattwespe). Pictures aren't great, as it left quickly, but enough for an ID of this distinctive species. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #2847197

  Sunny & warmer today, but somehow still not quite buzzing 🤨 Ironic then that the one insect willing to pose was this small tortrix moth, Clepsis dumicolana, hidden in a dark corner – this is a one second exposure! As the German name Efeuwickler suggests, its larvae feed on ivy, exactly where I found it. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #2847195

  A reminder to look up from the garden insects occasionally ☝️ Not a common sight, but always a welcome one – a circumzenithal arc appeared above the Sun this evening, with a bonus parhelion to boot. Among the most saturated atmospheric phenomena colour-wise, they're often missed because they're so high in the sky. I once saw one reflected in a car windscreen, before looking upwards. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #AtmosphericOptics

• Post #2847194

  No arthropod pictures from the garden today 🤷‍♂️ But I’ll take this as a replacement – a flyby this afternoon of the mighty Eiger & its North Face in the Alps, permanently in shadow, & one of the most storied places in mountaineering history 🏔️ And if you look *very* carefully, you might be able to see the Sphinx Observatory on the Jungfraujoch ridge just to the right 🔭 (I’m sure you can’t see it really, but it’s an amazing place – have been there several times.) #Photography 📷

• Post #2847193

  Mind blown 🤯 I’m not one much for selfies or self-portraits, but thought you might enjoy this, taken by my wife today 🙂 Completely analogue effect: no post-processing malarkey beyond some contrast enhancement, colour balance, & cropping. And given all the hexagonal mirrors involved, it’s appropriate that I’m wearing a #JWST polo shirt 🛰️🔭🤪 Artwork by Ronald A. Westerhuis, seen in the Gerhardt Braun Gallery in Palma de Mallorca this evening. #Photography 📷

• Post #2847192

  Back to the arthropod spotting, albeit far from my normal environment – we’re in the countryside on Mallorca for a week. And unfortunately, I found these two scoliid wasps in the swimming pool this morning. I think they’re Regiscolia bidens, rather than their much larger cousins, R. maculata. Am on the lookout for them. #Mallorca 🏝️ #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #2847191

  More finds from Mallorca, including a couple more "walking wounded". First an Egyptian Bird Grasshopper (Anacridium aegpytium; 🇩🇪 Ägyptische Wanderheuschrecke), one of the largest European grasshoppers. it's missing one of its hind legs, & has been wobbling slowly around the garden this evening. But it can still fly ... #Mallorca 🌞 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #2458899

  Also braving the colder, windier conditions today, this small, colourful, long-legged fly. Seems likely that it's in the genus Sciapus, & from pictures taken here in Germany, probably S. platypterus. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #2412509

  A rainy day, so not much happening in the garden 🤷‍♂️ But here's something amusing from yesterday – this is very probably a privet leafhopper (Fieberiella florii; 🇩🇪 Ligusterstrauchzirpe), which has wedged itself upside down into a leaf node to eat 🙃 Hopefully I'll some pictures of one right side up soon enough 🙂 #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #2387661

  How do flies stay cool on hot days if they can't sweat? 🤨 They blow bubbles of watery saliva; some of it evaporates, removing heat; they then re-ingest the cooler liquid. Simple 🤷‍♂️ Two flies seen at it this evening: a lesser dung fly (Sepsis fulgens; 🇩🇪 Glänzende Schwingfliege) & a fruit fly (Scaptomyza pallida; 🇩🇪 Taufliege). #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #2257432

  A cold, wet, gloomy day, so little activity in the garden 🤷‍♂️ Thankfully, I have many interesting pictures to post from the past two days spent at the Tagungsstätte Löwenstein east of Heilbronn with the PFE dept of @mpi_astro. Let's start with this dramatically-coloured soldier fly (Clitellaria ephippium; 🇩🇪 Rotrücken-Waffenfliege). #Löwenstein 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

• Post #2257431

  There will be plenty more wee beasties from Löwenstein coming, but for now, here's something new from @mpi_astro on the Königstuhl today. It's another sawfly called Tenthredopsis sordida, but which lacks an informal name in both English and German, despite being relatively common in Europe. Pity – it's a pretty one 🤷‍♂️ #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲