Murder on the patch

A mid-morning stroll round the patch on this the first day of August. A kingfisher the main avian sighting - a couple of months since I saw one of these on the patch - and a flock of 30 Swifts high over the park evidence of migration. Otherwise it was the camera not the binoculars that did the work again today.

An Ornate Digger Wasp at the colony by the bridge, this time with paralysed prey about to be taken down the tunnel to feed a growing grub. Insect life is just brutal.

A couple of new dragons for the year on the patch today (for me). A black-tailed skimmer whizzed by and what I believe is a female common darter perched briefly.

Finally a hoverfly. This thing is tiny, under a centimetre. I think it is a female sphaerophoria interrupta, which is "common and widespread" as well as small and beautiful.