It is always very relaxing just sitting on the side of the pond listening to the water cascading down the waterfall. Not much around at first but if wait they will come to you, and not too surprisingly the first insect to appear was yet another Dark-edged Bee Fly nectaring on the Aubretia. I even managed an in-flight shot.
Also enjoying the Aubretia was my second female Yellow-legged Mining Bee.
Then I spotted a new species for the garden, a fantastic black and yellow insect. This is Anciistrocerus sp, a species of Mason Wasp. Unfortunately it is not possible to achieve a specific identification without close-up shots of the underside.
And also my first hoverfly of the year and one of my favourites due to its large size, bright colours and beautiful markings. This is Helophilus pendulus which means the "dangling marsh-lover", and is also known as the Sun Fly.
As usual there were plenty of Common Pond Skaters Gerris lacustris. These are common in the pond and breed well, but I never noticed before that they have a beady eye. We learn something every day.
But the star of the show today was my first Large Red Damselfly of the year, sunning itself on a Water Hyacinth flower. These are by far the commonest dragonfly around the pond and will build up in numbers over the next few weeks.
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