Close Encounter of the Arachnid Kind (a post mainly about bees)

 

I was wandering round our wild garden this afternoon, hoping that the sun might have enticed a Brimstone or Red Admiral. As it happens, I saw just one butterfly, a Small White. My gaze, however, was distracted by a little drama of the arachnid kind. As the bee alighted on the insect house, quick as a flash two long dark legs appeared as if from nowhere, followed by the spider you see in the image. I wish the quality of the picture was better, but at least I caught something on camera. 

Spiders have to eat, of course, but I found myself on the side of the bee, hoping it had survived its unexpected ordeal.

  

The second photo shows how (presumably) bees have been at work, sealing up the holes. Last Christmas, I was given a copy of Simon Armitage's book, Dwell, inspired by the Lost Gardens of Heligan. I absolutely love the poem about the bug hotel!  

It was a joy to see a bee, several in fact, scouting out our hanging bee house:

 

The bee in the next photo preferred a warm spot in the sun on the hotel roof ...

 

 

The insect houses are close to a white flowering Cherry. In previous years, Leaf-cutter bees have sliced their circles from the Cherry tree leaves. The blossom has been wonderful, but the leaves are still pretty small ...

 

 

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The photos below were taken in our garden back in 2020.
 

Bee caught in the act

The disc of leaf has almost been removed

Arriving with the rolled disc of leaf for nest-cells

 

 

A Garden Visitor for World Bee Day 2022

 

Today is United Nations World Bee Day, as I discovered when I read a brilliant poem, 'The Last Bee', by Brian Bilston on Twitter (you might have to click here and scroll down slowly to find it).

My own bee poem, 'Leaf-cutter bee', was published in last month's edition of Reach Poetry (IDP); and, as it happens, the very recent telltale signs of bare discs in our ornamental cherry suggest that 'our' bees are back.  

We bought a cylindrical bee-house some years ago, and hung it on the Acer negundo. Nothing happened the next year or the year after. This year, now that the bee-house is rusty and rather decrepit, it seems it has come into its own at last ... 🐝🐝🐝

 

 

My understanding from a kind enthusiast on iSpot is that this is a Red Mason Bee (Osmia bicornis).

The Garden in Winter

In case we don't get any more snow for a while, I thought I should post a few wintry photos. They were all taken yesterday morning...  Do we think this is a Blackbird? 

Snow on the ground, frost in the air...

I wonder if there are any overwintering Ladybirds in the insect hotel...

Star of the show, heading for the coconut feeders...

I feel this view has come a month late (or eleven months early)... The car thermometer registered -6 degrees centigrade yesterday morning.

Keep warm!

Home Patch - Ladybird, Moth Larva and ?Bee

For some days now I have been keeping an eye on these Blackfly in the hope that they might encourage Ladybirds into the garden. And they did, two to be precise ... and, alas, both Harlequins. The photo immediately above and below are of the same Ladybird as the second one was under a leaf and hard to reach. 

There is a bee of some sort in residence in our insect hotels. It hovers (come to think of it, do bees hover?) in the air when I walk past, but I have yet to get a good look. 




I keep checking for butterflies in the garden: there have been a couple of sprightly blue ones on the wing, too fast for identification purposes; but other than those, butterflies have been noticeable by their absence. There was an early 'spring flurry' of these insects weeks ago when I saw more Brimstones in an afternoon than probably in the rest of my whole life; but what is happening now? I wonder if you saw this article...

On a more positive lepidopteran note, we found a Mullein moth larva on some Buddleia. This is a first for our garden. Of course, the caterpillar would decide to choose the delicate leaves of a rather delicate newly-planted (butterfly-friendly) Buddleia, ignoring the mass of green growth on the established white Buddleia!

Insects on our Flowers

There have been a few sunny spells here this week, though as I type it looks as if a thunder storm is not very far away. It has been lovely to see insects nectaring on the flower heads. The photo above and the two immediately below show (as you might guess) a Thick-legged Flower Beetle (Oedemera nobilis).

I can tell it is a male by the bulge in its femora.

This species seems to favour the southern half of the UK: I see I recorded these insects at WWT Llanelli back in 2011 when we lived in Swansea. I must add my latest sighting to my home-patch list.  

Bees have been enjoying the yellow Mouse-ear Hawkweed flowers...

...and the less wild Osteospermum (below).

I thought I would share a photo of a corner of our wild patch. It is a shady area, covered by Buddleia and Acer Negundo, the Box Maple. I can see strands of Hawthorn, nettles and a mass of Herb Robert. I suspect the insects (and snails) are there, but I have hardly seen any in this corner of the garden yet.



The photo below shows our insect houses a few weeks ago at the start of May. The only activity I have noticed so far is the scuttling of an occasional ant.

The photo below was taken yesterday: the pansies may not be wild (the mini-pond marks the entrance to the wild patch), but they are looking lovely and will hopefully prove attractive to flying insects of one sort or another.

I am so enjoying the Large Red Damselflies: I wonder whether the water feature is attracting them or whether it is the bramble bush!

I wonder if, like us, you enjoyed Chris Packham's Tree Slug moon graph on BBC Springwatch. This blog attempts to highlight the fact that nature is full of the wild and wonderful; and when we went outside a few minutes ago to look for bats, which failed to appear, we saw a couple of large Cockchafers (or perhaps Stag Beetles) floating around the sky, looking like airborne aliens.

My BBC Springwatch SOS Wildflower Trough (5) - Pollinators!

My patience has been rewarded with spring flowers and pollinators. There were a number of bees and Marmalade Hoverflies around the wildflower trough today - a joy to see!

• SOS Wildflower Trough post 4
• SOS Wildflower Trough post 3
• SOS Wildflower Trough post 2
• SOS Wildflower Trough post 1

And finally, just to add a bit more color to this post, these last three pictures were taken today and show an insect, probably a bee of some kind, making use of the insect hotels...

We have small swarms of cockchafers around the silver birch for the last few evenings and a few bats. There have been moths in and out of the window.

More Butterflies at RSPB Flatford Wildlife Garden

Some days ago we paid a return visit to Flatford RSPB Wildlife Garden, hoping that there would be some butterflies about. A couple of male Orange Tips flitted past us almost immediately, followed by a magnificent male Brimstone. 

We always find the bank to the right of the photo (behind the picnic table) a good place for insects, and once again this proved to be the case. 

A female Orange Tip - these proved easier to photograph than their males counterparts.

Sadly we failed to see any Holly Blues. Blue butterflies are among my favourites...

A Peacock in the Ceanothus

A bee on the Alliums.

There were several Cardinal Beetles about, including this one on one of the log piles.

You can see the small white comma on the outer wing above, giving these butterflies their name.

Before heading home, we wandered down to the bridge at Flatford.

Just as we were leaving we noticed this well camouflaged but iridescent beetle (below). We certainly seem to be on the cusp of 'insect season': there were dancing Mayflies in the Flatford garden and we had a Cockchafer banging on our window at home last night. I saw my first 2017 damselfly in the garden yesterday afternoon. Speaking of firsts, it has been lovely to hear the cuckoo on two occasions, but I have yet to see my first bat...