FoPL Readers Corner: Newport Garden Log - 1 Apr 24

For something slightly different here are some photos I took in my unprepossessing Newport garden during some brief dry and sunny spells this month.

A pristine Speckled Wood butterfly Pararge aegeria.

Also smart is this Comma butterfly Polygonia c-album. It looks too smart to have hibernated though it seems too early to be from a new generation.

I have seen many different mining bees Andrena sp. There are 67 species recognised in the UK. Many are a challenge to identify. Males and females are often very different. Some females can be easier. With the orange hairs on its leg this is a Gwynne's Mining Bee A. bicolor.

A possible Yellow-legged Mining Bee A. flavipes.

Just about the smartest and easiest to identify are female Tawny Mining Bees A. fulva.

I think this an Orange-tailed Mining Bee A. haemorrhoa: though the 'tail' is barely marked and even less obviously 'orange'.

Here is a Grey-patched Mining Bee A. nitida.

This is a female Chocolate Mining Bee A. scotia.

Mason bees Osmia sp. are slightly bulkier than Mining Bees. This is a Red Mason Bee Osmia bicornis.

Not a hoverfly species I see very often at the lake is Early Epistrophe Epistrophe eligans. Also known as Spring Epistrophe.

A Chequered Hoverfly Melanoma scalare showing its abdomen markings. This species is also known as Long-winged Duskyface.

Also showing well is this Grey-spotted Boxer Platycheirus albimanus. Also known as Grey-spotted Sedgesitter. No sedges in my garden (no boxers either!).

A Syrphus species, either S. ribesii / S. vitripennis. I would need to have a clear view of the whole of the rear leg to specifically identify it. The species seems almost always to hide this feature.