Slow Worm

A legless lizard, shiny brown, 50 cm long. Usually found in damp places. It feeds mainly on slugs and earthworms.  

Gigantic House Spider

Cocksfoot moths on Daisy

Bumble Bee

Bombus terrestris

Common Wasp

Vespula vulgari

Length 12-19mm.

Wasps have a large yellow and black striped abdomen This is joined to the thorax by a slender stalk. The wasp has a poisonous sting. Lives in a colony. Only the fertile queens over winter.

Adults feed on nectar and other sweet things

The larvae are feed on insects.

Large black anchor shaped spot between the eye

Toad Spawn

Eggs laid in long strings.

Looks like long black bean pods in the pond. Covered in frothy bubbles.

Spiders, Sheet web

Common Hawker feeding on a Black Darter.

Common Hawker Dragonfly

Large eyes, touching each other. Wings held at right angles to the body when resting.

Emerald Damselfly

Caddis fly larvae case build with grains of sand.

 Dog paw print

Common Darter.

length 40mm.

Male is red.  Females and immature males are dark brown or black. Dragonflies always rest with their wings outstretched.

Red-legged Shield bug.

Found in deciduous trees.

Common Hawker

Very fast flying large insect.75mm

Breeds in still, moorland pools and feeds on other insects.

This one was feeding on a Black Darter Dragonfly.

 Damselfly with exuvia

Newly emerged damselfly with the exuvia that it has emerged from still attached to the rush.

The Damselfly rests while its wings dry before it can fly.

 Sexton beetle

A burying beetle covered with mites. The beetle feeds on dead and decaying animals which it buries. The mites hitch a lift on the beetle to the next corpse for their next feed.

Hover-fly

Eristalis arbustorum

Hover-fly

Episyrphus balteatus

Flies May-Oct.

Does not overwinter here but flies south.

Hover-fly

Meliscaeva cinctella

The Sun Worshiper

Hover-fly

Orange ladybird.

4.5-6mm. With 12 or 16 spots. This one had 16 spots. It feeds on mildew and lives in sycamore and ash trees.

Blue-tailed Damselfly

1st June 2006

Segment 8 is usually bright blue in both sexes, but otherwise the top of the abdomen is black. the insect is abundant around still and slow-moving water.

White-lipped Snail

12-15 mm high 18-21 mm wide. Colour varies greatly , but usually yellowish or reddish with either no spiral bands or up to five. Feeds on fresh and rotting herbaceous plants.

Hieroglyphic Ladybird

Lives on heather. Eats the larva of the heather beetle. Found May 2006

Water Boatman and Back Swimmer.

Live in fresh water ponds eating other small animals.

Red Velver Mite

Lives in the garden

Eats debris.

Great Pine Weevil

6.5-8 mm. Brown with yellow spots. Snout with antennae in centre. Common on pine.

Spiked Shieldbugs

feeding on Ruby Tiger caterpillar

Dytiscus marginalis

Great Diving Beetle

Common Hawker Dragonfly

Baby Frog

Saved by Sarah and Fay from the hungry bug in the picture below. The backswimmer was watched in action, grapping the froglet, much to the astonishment of the girls.

Backswimmer

Large dark and shiny eyes, long hind legs used for swimming, the front and middle legs are used to catch prey. This fierce little insect swims on its back to catch its prey. The adults of these bugs are good fliers. Found in small pools and ponds. Feeds on insects and tadpoles.

Grasshopper

Eleven species are found in Britian. Grasshoppers are vegetarians, feeding mainly on grasses. The singing sound is produced by its hind legs rubbing up and down.

Pond Skaters

Damselflies

Large Red Damselflies

The male is the bright red one of the pair in mating position.

Baby Garden spiders

Araneus diadematus

Mini yellow spiderlings on a nettle leaf.

Tues 21st June 2005

Eyed Ladybird

Anatis ocellata

Found on conifers

Orange Tailed Bee

Owl Midge

Moth-fly, a minute insect with moth like wings and antennae.

Photographed on Ivy-leaved Speedwell.

Hover-fly [left]

Xanthogramma pedissequum

The hover-fly looks like a wasp but it can hover in mid-air and it is a true fly with only one pair of wings.

It feeds on pollen and nectar.

Bumble bee [right]

A large bee with a slow droning flight. Only the queens survive the winter. They live in small colonies usually underground.

Black Darter Dragonfly

An aerial hunter, catching insects on the wing, usually near or over water. They can fly forwards and backwards. The dragonfly nymph lives under water.

Grasshopper

A jumping insect, related to crickets and locusts. Can often be heard rubbing their hind legs on their wings. They feed on grasses.

The Lacewing

A group of insects with large lacy wings and long antennae.
Many are bright green, while others are brown.
All eat aphids

Palmate Newt

Triturus helveticus

Newts were seen in April in the puddles at Windyhills by Primary Six, Fyvie School.

Dragonfly

Red Dragonfly [male] seen in 2004 basking in the sun.

Common Shrew

The common shrew about 7cms long, has a pointed snout and red pointed teeth. It lives on insects and can eat its own body weight every day

Toad Tadpoles

The spawn of toad tadpoles is formed in strings. The tadpoles look black compared to frog tadpoles.

Young Toad

Toads have a rough skin, a frog has a smooth skin.

Adult Toad

Common toads live in fairly dry places. The female is larger than the male and when alarmed they can inflate their bodies to make them look bigger.

House Spider

Long legs give this species the ability to run really fast. This one measured over 2 inches and fitted snuggly into the lid of a coffee jar.

So far Mike Davidson has found over 72 species of spider and 7 species of harvestmen at Windyhills

Pine cone remains

Red squirrels dine on the cones of the Scots pine and leave the cores lyiing on the ground. Lookout out for evidence of the squirrels throughout the wood

Aquatic invertebrates found by Marie Donald 6/6/2004

• Water beetle larva - Dytiscus species
• Water beetle adult - Agabus bipustulatus
• Water beetle adult - Agabus melanarius
• Water beetle adult - Hydroporus palustris
• Water bug larvae - Micronectinae
• Non biting midge larvae - Chironomidae

• Whirlygig beetle adult -Gyrinus bicolor
• Pond Olive Mayfly nymph - Cloeon dipterum
• Alderfly larvae - Micronectinae
• Water bug adult - Sialis lutaria
• Water mite - Hydracarina