Scabious Sawfly

When I am busy observing butterflies and dragonflies and trying to get close to them for photographs, I don't often have too much time to look closely at other insect groups.

During the early days of the covid pandemic, when we were restricted by lockdowns to our home areas, I started to take a closer interest in other groups, particularly sawflies.

In 2020, I happened upon an insect resting on a bracken frond, the like of which I had never noticed before. It turned out to be a Blotch-winged Honeysuckle Sawfly and from that day, a curiosity in sawflies was awakened.

Over the last few weeks, I have been seeking out the Scabious Sawfly, a common species that is associated mainly with Devil's-bit Scabious. I have regularly found its larvae feeding in late summer but had never knowingly seen the adult before. 

Scabious Sawfly (Abia sericea)

(males)

(females)

Blotched-winged Honeysuckle Sawfly (Abia fasciata) (female) (taken in 2020)

Tenthredo mesomela (Sawfly sp.)