Ivy Visitors 24

Top of the ivy league today, the central image, is a woodlouse. I've chosen it as it's a talking point. :) I've read that there are 176 nicknames for this bug. As children in The Dengie Hundred, Essex we used to call them sowbugs. In fact my second sister's nickname was sowbug for some reason.

My early first image of the day was the resting, medium-sized bumble bee with its pollen sacs full. The other bumble is huge and shares the frame with a ladybird. The coppery-bronze fly is, I think, a blow fly. They change from green to bronze as they age. Not sure about the grey fly with red eyes. Could be Minettia fasciata. Equally unsure about the grey and black fly. Might be a root maggot fly or a Tachinid.

I've been a bit baffled by batman hoverflies. I keep seeing this small one and wondering if it is a batman. It's sharing the frame with a velvet mite.

The two Mirids that I've posted are tiny. Unless one has one's eyes out on stalks, like I do, they'd go unnoticed. They blend in perfectly with the dried out parts of the fading ivy flowers.