Revisiting Rosebank cemetery

I'm continuing my work of surveying the wildlife in the 43 cemeteries owned and managed by the City of Edinburgh Council. I'm currently making further surveys of some of the cemeteries that are the most interesting for wildlife. 

Today I revisited Rosebank cemetery, opposite Pilrig Park.  You can tell from the photo below that it hasn't rained for a while, the grass is very brown!

 

It was lovely to be greeted by a flock of house martins, swifts and a couple of swallows that were flying around above the cemetery for most of my visit. 

I remember from previous visits, that this cemetery has a lot of Harlequin ladybirds (these are a non-native species, that is possibly taking over from our native ladybird species, this certainly seems to be the case in Rosebank cemetery). Harlequins come in a range of patterns, below a succinea Harlequin is chasing a spectabilis Harlequin

There were several Red Legged Shield Bugs around the cemetery

 

The most interesting insect find of the day though was this lovely cranefly, which I'm sure is Nephrotoma flavipalpis.

I was fascinated by this fly that was enjoying the Michaelmas Daisies, but all I know about it is that it definitely isn't a hoverfly! If you have any clues as to its identity please let me know in the comments!

 

Given all the insects in the cemetery, it was no surprise to find this funnel web spiderweb 

The roses are beautiful in the cemetery, though difficult to photograph this morning as it was very windy.