A change of scenery today, with an organised meet up with Dave and later meeting up with Liam, saw some great insects being found during the 4 hours i was on site.
After a nice drive over from Barnetby, i got my gear together and decided to have a quick look in the butterfly garden before Dave arrived. This proved a VERY good decision as i found a stonking Hoverfly in the form of my first Callicera aurata or Golden Longhorn as it is now called.
This species of Hoverfly is rarely seen as an adult and it was a total stroke of luck when i found it, but what a find!. It is obviously my first sighting of this arboreal species and another really nice species to add to my growing list of species I've seen to date.
Other species seen in and around the garden included a nice male Merodon equestris or Narcissus Bulb Hoverfly, which i managed to get some nice photos of also.
When Dave arrived we went for a walk up to Little Scrubbs meadow, but it was really disappointing for Butterflies, apart for a few Silver-washed Fritillaries, a handful of Purple Hairstreak's and 3 White Admiral. The star of the show from the Butterfly world was a smart White-letter Hairstreak watched taking salt from the path up to five ways, a habit i hadn't seen for some time from this species.
We kept looking and slowly got a few nice insects to show from the visit which included Dock Bug, a lovely Volucella zonaria and a few Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetles, but it was very poor for insect numbers.
The final few sightings occurred around the Butterfly garden with Liam kindly showing us our first Pseudo Scorpion, a family i had long wanted to see and hadn't really realised just how small they are, amazing insects!. As i wandered back to the car a male Roesel's-bush Cricket was sat on my windscreen and i took advantage taking a few pics with the phone.
A nice few hours here, but very disappointing for numbers of insects, these cold and wet springs really are ruining some species outlooks.
Hoverfly species - Eristalis nemorum - or Stripe-faced Drone Fly 
The Day's Star Find - Hoverfly Callicera aurata or Golden Longhorn 
Hoverfly species - Merodon equestris or Narcissus Bulb Hoverfly
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| Black & Yellow Longhorn Beetle |
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| Soldier Fly species - Chloromyia formosa - or Broad Centurion |
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| A very smart Dock Bug |
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| Hoverfly species - Volucella zonaria - or Hornet-mimic Plumehorn |
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| The Diminutive Pseudo Scorpion species Pselaphochernes scorpioides |
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| Male Roesel's-bush Cricket. |
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