Thursday 09 April 2020
Very little of note in the way of birds. A distant singing Chaffinch was my first song this year from the garden. Chaffinches were regular in the trees at the turn of the year and then moved away.
A new butterfly species for me this year was a Green-veined White (Pieris napi).
A new wasp species was a German Wasp (Vespula germanica)
A new hoverfly was Epistrophe eligans
The list for the day:
Birds
Canada Goose, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Feral Pigeon, Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, House Martin, Wren, Starling, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Pied Wagtail, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch
Butterfly
Green-veined White (
Pieris napi)
Bees / wasps
Andrena scotica
several unidentified bumblebees
German Wasp (
Vespula germanica)
Hoverflies
Common Drone Fly (
Eristalis tenax)
Tapered Drone Fly (
Eristalis pertinax)
Chequered Hoverfly (
Melanostoma scalare)
Epistrophe eligans
And now some images
Always perky and usually very loud! Here a Wren pauses as it shoots across my garden.
Pausing briefly on what passes as a lawn in my garden is this Green-veined White (
Pieris napi) butterfly. When the specimens are as fresh as this the ‘green-veins’ that are more evident on the underside ‘print-through’ to the upper surface. As these wear then separation from the similar Small White depends on the black areas on the wing tip. On Small White the black is solid and does not ‘bleed’ so far along the trailing edge.
I think this is the mining bee species
Andrena scotica – many mining bee species are difficult to separate. Bees – well insects generally – obviously have different blood-supply systems and seem quite happy ‘head down’
But perhaps not for too long! This species seems to have unofficial names of Chocolate Mining Bee or Hawthorn Mining Bee.
Many books and web sites suggest separation of Common and German Wasps is hard and can only be done from facial markings. However one of the sites I use notes that only German Wasp (
Vespula germanica) shows a spade-like black marking on the first segment.
This illustrates a typical difficulty encountered when trying to identify hoverflies – the folded and often iridescent wings obscure the body-markings.
A change of angle can help – if it doesn’t flush the insect. This is a Chequered Hoverfly (
Melanostoma scalare)
This is the hoverfly Epistrophe eligans. A common species: my first this year
With dark front legs this has to be a Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax) – my first for a few weeks.
This is a flower cluster of Aucuba japonica 'variegata' sold in garden centres as variegated Japanese laurel. Sadly I have yet to see a single insect visiting these flowers.
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Friday 10 April 2020
A new bird species for the year was a rather distant singing Blackcap
A new butterfly species for me this year was a Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus)
A new species of hoverfly for my garden list: Leucozona lucorum
Other new things included a nomad bee; a crane-fly; a weevil and two species of spider.
The list for the day:
Birds
Grey Heron, Sparrowhawk, Feral Pigeon, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, House Martin, Blackcap, Wren, Starling, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Greenfinch, Goldfinch
Butterflies
Peacock (
Aglais io)
Small Tortoiseshell (
Aglais urticae)
Holly Blue (
Celastrina argiolus)
Bugs / beetles
Common Green Shieldbug (
Palomena prasina)
weevil sp., possibly
Sitona sulcifrons
Bees wasps
Andrena scotica (mining bee)
Tawny Mining Bee (Andrena fulva)
Nomad bee, perhaps Nomada lathburiana
Hoverflies
Epistrophe eligans
Common Drone Fly (
Eristalis tenax)
Tapered Drone Fly (
Eristalis pertinax)
Leucozona lucorum
Chequered Hoverfly (
Melanostoma scalare)
Other notable flies
crane fly sp., possibly
Tipula varipennis
Spiders
Garden Spider (
Arameus diadematus)
Metellina segmentata
Stretch spider sp. (
Tetragnatha extensa?)
Pirate Wolf Spider (
Pirata piraticus)
and a selection of images to illustrate some of these:
An angry bird? Jackdaw of course. The cross-pieces on the TV aerial almost give the appearance the Jackdaw is wearing skis.
Less angry here.
A different Jackdaws looking quite smart ....
... but then having a good shake and looking scruffy.
Mostly it is male Blackbirds that hop about and / or scream across the garden. Perhaps this female has been given a break from nest-sitting.
A Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) butterfly. Unless it opens its wings this species cannot be sexed.
A different specimen. Another cause for me to wonder at evolution. What is the advantage of striped legs and antenna? Might it be a ‘print through’ from the camouflage of either the caterpillar (bright green, so unlikely!) or the chrysalis?
No identification problem with this Common Green Shieldbug (
Palomena prasina). The cross-lighting highlights the amazing pitted structure.
Another female Tawny Mining Bee (Andrena fulva) today
Not sure about this mining bee. Its rather tawny appearance suggests it might be a male Tawny Mining Bee, though I would have expected the bands on the body to be rather more obvious. It is rooting about in a Dandelion and doing its job by getting covered in pollen.
The mining bee
Andrena scotica. All mining bees are solitary and are likely responsible for the small, neat hole surrounded by earth in your lawn.
This is a puzzle. I am fairly sure it is a nomad bee but the all-dark antenna is puzzling. A few species in this wasp-like group of parasitic bees (harmless to humans) are easy to identify. I take some comfort is reading “the identification of all our Nomada sp can be very difficult, and often largely impossible from photographs”.
Does look distinctive ..... There is a hint of an orange tip to the antenna which would fit
Nomada lathburiana, but ...
This shows the ‘wasp waist’ of this group. So why are they not ‘nomad wasps’?
Showing pale forelegs means this is a Tapered Drone Fly (
Eristalis pertinax). Only males are noticeably ‘tapered’ and then only in direct comparison. With its head twisted hard to be sure whether this is a male or female. Whatever it has not read the virus recommendation to avoid touching your eyes.
Here is one of today’s Chequered Hoverfly (
Melanostoma scalare). These have suddenly become by far the most common hoverfly in the garden and they are on the wing very early each morning, before the sun has reached the leaves they like to use as a perch.
This Chequered Hoverfly seems to met a sad end, perhaps by the small green spider I photographed a few days ago. Not only is it all entangled in the web but if you look closely the body appeared to be flat and to have been sucked dry of content. Nasty.
The same individual. Oddly it looks as if the strands of the spider’s web would not have enough strength to deal with a hoverfly fighting for its life. I guess they get injected with a sedative quickly.
And today’s Epistrophe eligans hoverfly.
This is the new species of hoverfly for my garden list: Leucozona lucorum.
Struggling with this very small beetle, another uPvC special. I think this is a weevil, one from a group that does not have a long proboscis. The closest I can get is the weevil
Sitona sulcifrons. Note the long angles antenna and the swollen legs with the swelling at the knee joints (I am sure there is a technical term and they are probably not the knees either, but ....)
There are several species of mainly black flies of varying sizes in the garden all day every day and I have no idea how to start identifying them. This at least ‘different’ with well-separated red eyes and a pale striped thorax to a slimmer than usual body. Going bug-eyed on several web sites (groan!) suggests it just might be
Botanophila fugax, a species that bores in to Elder – and that is indeed around my garden. Then again ...
I could not get a ‘crisp’ shot of this crane-fly as it was flexing its legs and ‘bouncing’ up and down. The wing markings suggest Tipula varipennis which is a Spring-flying crane-fly. However this genus normally rests with its wings held at 45 degrees, so I will have to let it pass. Interesting behaviour.
Would you believe an orb-web spider! I find this group very confusing (only this group I hear you say!). Apart from the unusual pink tone I would have dismissed this as a Garden Spider. Research on the web suggests this a
Metellina segmentata spider – a rather variable spider in tone.
This is why they are called ‘stretch spiders’. I think this is
Tetragnatha extensa but there are several similar species.
Another small spider found on my plastic (well uPvC really) window surrounds and sills. The way the white lines run along the side of the body suggests this is a Pirate Wolf Spider (
Pirata piraticus). Apparently a common early Spring spider and one able to walk on water.
Another indication that my lawns are not all they might be! A violet. There are many similar species which cannot be identified from the flower alone. Scent and both leaves and stems need to be examined. Pity I cut the lawn later ....
(Ed Wilson)
