Today a first for the garden. A small silvery-underwing butterfly visited my everlasting pea flowers. I couldnt believe it - a Purple Hairstreak miles from any oaks (well a good distance anyway). I was far too slow for a photograph but the record sits nicely with a Green Hairstreak from earlier in the year.
Cheers John.
I saw a new (for me) hoverfly in the garden on 1st July. Just found it dead in the greenhouse. Field guide says it's a southern species expanding its range probably due to climate change. An interesting wasp mimic with a wasp-like buzz in flight to go with colouration.
Cheers, John
Edit: Forgot to say what it was - Chrysotoxum festivum
-- Edited by John Rayner on Monday 16th of July 2018 06:26:17 PM
9th April:
First Holly Blue of the year in my garden.
Also:
Tawny Mining Bee (can anyone confirm this ID from the photo. Ta).
Queen Tree Bumblebee.
Queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee.
6th April:
Hedgehog.
Cheers, John
-- Edited by John Rayner on Sunday 9th of April 2017 03:20:44 PM
One morning a couple of years back, I thrust my hand into a bag of peanut granules without looking, and in my half-awake state could not understand why I wasn't feeling pieces of nut, but something furry. Puzzled, I looked inside to find a dead wood mouse which I'm sure had overdosed on them. Try a solid plastic container with a snap down lid John/Roger. They have proved to be impassable since then.
Went to refill my bird feeders from a stock box kept in the shed. About 7.5 kilos of sunflower seeds, all still inside their original bags, had been reduced to husks.
3 of the fattest Wood Mice you are likely to see were the culprits.
Also, 14-Spot Ladybird in garden this afternoon
Cheers John
-- Edited by John Rayner on Thursday 10th of September 2015 02:05:06 PM
Hummingbird hawk moth in my Hazel Grove garden yesterday. Only my second ever sighting of one. What an insect. Made my day and hoping it will made a return visit and camera is poised and ready.
Here's a question. Do Tree Bumblebees oust or attack native bumblebees? What I can find on the Internet suggests they do not.
But I have a White-tailed Bumblebee nest in the garden in a hole close to the ground. Whenever a White-tailed enters the hole a couple of Tree Bumblebees appear and fly in short left/right/left flights just in front of the hole. Clearly they are paying attention to where the entrance is. I have never seen one try to enter the nest but today found two White-taileds dead near the entrance. May be a coincidence but interesting behaviour none the less.
Cheers John
Hi John
have consulted my expert colleague who says that if there was a conflict between the two species, the Tree Bumblebees would be more aggressive. However this would only tend to occur if the other bees approached a Tree Bumblebee nest - but these tend to be high up, not near the ground. Also, the Tree Bumblebee should be regarded as a native as they have colonised by extending their range, not been introduced.
Hope that helps
Thanks Steve,
There doesn't seem to be much conflict, it looks more like curiosity. I take the point regarding introduced species and natural colonisation.
Here's a question. Do Tree Bumblebees oust or attack native bumblebees? What I can find on the Internet suggests they do not.
But I have a White-tailed Bumblebee nest in the garden in a hole close to the ground. Whenever a White-tailed enters the hole a couple of Tree Bumblebees appear and fly in short left/right/left flights just in front of the hole. Clearly they are paying attention to where the entrance is. I have never seen one try to enter the nest but today found two White-taileds dead near the entrance. May be a coincidence but interesting behaviour none the less.
Cheers John
Hi John
have consulted my expert colleague who says that if there was a conflict between the two species, the Tree Bumblebees would be more aggressive. However this would only tend to occur if the other bees approached a Tree Bumblebee nest - but these tend to be high up, not near the ground. Also, the Tree Bumblebee should be regarded as a native as they have colonised by extending their range, not been introduced.
Here's a question. Do Tree Bumblebees oust or attack native bumblebees? What I can find on the Internet suggests they do not.
But I have a White-tailed Bumblebee nest in the garden in a hole close to the ground. Whenever a White-tailed enters the hole a couple of Tree Bumblebees appear and fly in short left/right/left flights just in front of the hole. Clearly they are paying attention to where the entrance is. I have never seen one try to enter the nest but today found two White-taileds dead near the entrance. May be a coincidence but interesting behaviour none the less.
Hi John, you may be interested in the following information.
When I was delivering leaflets/magazines etc.. I saw Juniper Carpets many times in residential areas. Now a common species.
Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland quotes :- Resident. Was originally local and confined to the chalk downs of south-east, south and central England, the Cotswolds, and the limestone of north Wales, Cumbria and County Durham. Since the 1960's it has massively increased its distribution to cover much of England and Wales by exploiting Junipers now popularly cultivated in gardens. Single bushes can support populations for many generations and the eggs, larvae and pupae are transported on plants by the nursery trade. All moths examined from gardens conform to ssp. juniperata which is now probably everywhere junipers are grown, including lowland Scotland.
Ssp = juniperata (common), scotica (local in mainland Scotland, particularly the north-east, and on the Inner Hebrides), orcadensis (Orkney, found on Hoy in the 19th centuary but not recently).
Juniper Carpet disturbed from garden juniper bush. Not sure of current status but UKmoths says "A scarce species, restricted to a few scattered localities throughout Britain, though it does turn up in gardens where cultivated varieties of juniper are grown".
