#in my backyard

Goldenrod crab spider (Misumena vatia, Fam. Thomisidae)

The gray weather and the cold wind do not really encourage the photo outing. Fortunately, there is always something going on in the honeysuckle hedge that borders the garden!

Finally reunited!
After waiting all winter in the darkness of their lodges in the hollow of the bamboo stalks,
After flying incessantly around the nests,
Carpenter bee pairs form in the warm March sun

Mason bees visiting nests while searching females (Osmia sp, Megachilidae - March 2022)

“Il lui reste toujours, du dernier hiver, un peu de neige”

Jules Renard, Histoires Naturelles

Lime hawk moth, (Mimas tiliae - Sphingidae)

Looking the White Lady in the eye is not without risk, even on a sunny day and on a blue flowering bush
(Misumena vatia, Thomisidae)

But this time it was her male who captured prey in the wild grass nearby


Thick-legged flower beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

a male with swollen femora

Aphids form very dense colonies on young elderberry stems. A godsend for this hoverfly larva

It is fascinating to see how much parasites manipulate the behavior of their hosts. After the wasp larva has emerged from its body, having fed on its tissues, this seven-spotted ladybird, still alive, remains motionless on the cocoon, offering it protection while the adult parasite develops (May be the baconid wasp, Dinocampus coccinellae, on Coccinella septempunctata)

Crane fly

A beautiful female of Ctenophora elegans (Tipulidae)