Oh i do like to be beside the seaside.......

One would think that when on a seaside safari event, you would be training your eyes seaward for leaping dolphins, diving gannets and majestic ospreys....but no far from it infact.



Armed with sweep net and i.d charts, chris and plus dogs set out with a band of eager folk to see what the delights of the coastal section of the speyside way could reveal. This section takes you along the old portgordon railway line and through the Spey Bay golf course wood. When the sun finally does come out, grassy rides and glades in woodland are a mecca for insect life. Butterflies, moths, dragonflies and damselflies galour were out showing off their beautiful colours and dramatic fly displays.



The catch of the day had to be this little fella, (caught by chris after a manic couple of minutes with the sweep net on the No.9 fairway).

Its a wood wasp Urocerus gigas. Last time i saw one of these i was sitting down for my lunch in a larch plantation during a harvesting contract and this little fella decided to try and bore into my leg. That isn't a sting, it's an "ovipositor"which the female uses to bore into wood and lay her eggs through.

Well done chris!