Dandelions for dinner
Dandelions are a feast for early nectar and pollen feeders.
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Buff tailed bumblebees
The aerodynamically unlikely buff tailed bumble bee queens are out of hibernation and, buzzing around between the park’s spring flowers. Here is a video about their surprising flying skills:
Neonicotinoids
The Government has decided to allow the emergency use of the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam on sugar beet in England in 2021, despite objections from conservationists. The decision, in response to pressure from England’s farmers, will permit the treatment of sugar beet seed to combat beet yellows virus, which is spread by multiple species of aphids.
Continue reading “Neonicotinoids”On the eleventh day…
…eleven pipers piping
Honey bees make a sound that apiarists call piping.
Continue reading “On the eleventh day…”Flea circus
Part One
Research has recently found that the highly toxic insecticides used on cats and dogs to kill fleas are poisoning England’s rivers. Scientists believe that significant environmental damage is being done to important water insect populations, down at the bottom of the freshwater food chain.
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Insect life
by Simon Knight
I was surprised to see these two critters, given that insect life in the park has gone quiet now compared to the summer.
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Garden tiger moth
by Ian Bushell
David Feather found the caterpillar of a Garden Tiger Moth in the heritage orchard.
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Another tiny creature!
Simon Knight has sent us a beautiful picture of one of the park’s tiny creatures in the wet grass.
Continue readingCrane Flies
It’s crane fly time!
Read on:Butterfly transect
by Ian Bushell
Transect for August
Numbers and variety are a bit disappointing; a cold late-summer day.
The old filled-in pond at the end of Lambrok Meadow is where I saw the Common Blue among the Ragwort, Willow-herb, Spindle, Thistle, Rose, Bramble, Red and White clover .
Q&A
Question from Tom Martin:
Found this on the pavement near my house. Do you know what it is?
Cantharidae
There are forty one species of Cantharidae in Britain and almost all go by the common names of soldier or sailor beetle.
Read on:Honey bees
Unlike common wasps, honey bees (Apis mellifera) don’t die at the end of the summer. The hive stores enough food for the queen and the workers to survive through the winter.
Continue reading “Honey bees”Identification
Message to Ian:
Another unidentified insect inadvertently included in a botanical picture. Any idea what it is?
How to tell a grasshopper from a cricket
- The most visible difference between a grasshopper and a cricket is that crickets tend to have very long antennae while grasshoppers’ antennae are short.
Pictures taken in the park by Simon Knight.
Five number facts about ants
There are 63 species of ant in Britain, 17 of which are introduced.
Continue readingBUZZ!
Bees buzz in two different ways.
Continue reading “BUZZ!”
Thick legged flower beetle
A female Oedemera nobilis, known as the thick legged flower beetle or swollen thighed beetle, photographed in the park last week.
The male has the strangely shaped legs for which the species is named
Flying ants
Yesterday, the Met Office’s radar recorded such a large and dense cloud of flying ants off the southern coast of Britain that it registered as a rain storm.
Continue reading “Flying ants”Brown Hawker
A brown hawker female, Aeshna grandis, spotted in the park by Ian Bushell on Tuesday afternoon.
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Peacock
Remember all those peacock caterpillar netsts? They have metamorphosed into a shiny new generation of adult peacock butterflies.
A marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) feeding on the nectar of a bramble flower. This is a new species for our lists, despite its ubiquity.
The marmalade fly gets its name from its colour, and its thin cut/thick cut dark stripes, just like marmalade.
The honeysuckle is in flower.
Continue readingRoesel’s bush cricket
Simon Knight has sent us video taken in the park, of a Roesel’s bush cricket.
Continue reading “Roesel’s bush cricket”
