30/9/09: North Heath alleyway Ichneumon fly and fly-tipping

The Hengist Rd/Horsa Rd alley yielded a large and distinctive-looking Ichneumon fly with a long cream section half way down each antenna and a single cream spot on the thorax. A bit of web browsing suggests that this was Ichneumon suspiciosus, which parasitises butterflies and moths

A lot more rubbish had appeared since my last examination of these North Heath alleyways. This lot had been dumped all over a rather nice white-flowered lilac that I photographed earlier in the year.

I know it's not the Council's fault, but the local environment would be better served by a redeployment of personnel away from incessant grass-cutting and towards clearing up rubbish. In fact it's nearly always the case around here that when taller vegetation is cut back by Council, Utility or railway company contractors, they're very careful to leave all the newly exposed rubbish nicely in situ ...............