Glasgow.

I went to Glasgow for elder daughter's final year show, interior design. Louise had found a very nice flat for us to stay in, which made being in the city quite relaxing for a change and I had a fair bit of time to work on sorting out some of my data and photos, not being interested in going to the shops.

https://gsashowcase.net/mollie-forsyth/#wanderlust

 The show was suitably impressive and we had the opportunity to see M's friends' work as well as her own. We also had a bit of time to go around some of the other departments, the fine art and photography was especially interesting with a very wide interpretation of fine art, well, art, to be honest.

These knitted slugs and other creatures were good fun, the result of a community involvement project (Sculpture and Environmental Art).

Artist - Kitty Glover.

Anyway, on Thursday, I did take a wander around the Botanic Gardens where I found this ant in the Palm House.

I think this is a Solenopsis species. (It isn't but ID is proving elusive, specimens needed - (thanks MF). Very tiny, less than 2mm. It's on the surface of a liverwort.

This would have been new for Scotland, if I've got it right, except that an ecological consultancy did a bit of work in the glass houses back in February and also found it, they haven't got it to species yet either. 

In Kelvingrove Park I found two species that were certainly new to me, one new due to prior laziness regarding identifying bumblebees.

Bombus pratorum, Early Bumblebee, not found on Orkney.

Note the darkened antnnal segement.

Psila fimetaria (thanks IA for confirming the ID).

Phymatocera aterrima, Solomon's Seal Sawfly (thanks JS for ID help).

I think I've seen larvae of the sawfly in the past, I must check back.

We got home to a Cuckoo still on territory, Sedge Warblers singing and this morning a 2cy Little Gull on Loch of Bosquoy, hawking insects with the Black-headed Gulls. Little Gulls like buses, not doubt there'll be more now.