Dear, oh dear! I'm well behind with all this, partly because I took the liberty of going on holiday and partly because I've seen some things that have proved tricky to identify.
Let's start in the garden - about three weeks ago.
Sadly my forget-me-nots are now finished but the male bullfinch continued his visits to them and was last sighted raiding very close to the house.
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| Greedy Bullfinch |
The same day, while taking a break in the summer house, I discovered this strange looking wasp crawling around.
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| Strange Wasp |
I believe it is a form of ichneumonid wasp, without being able to identify it further.
The mystery bee mentioned in my last post continued to turn up in the same place and the nearest I can get to labelling it is that it MIGHT be an orange-tailed mining bee where the colouration has been faded by the sun. One or two sightings suggested an orangey tinge on the tail and it has occurred not far from here. I also considered a honey bee drone but the abdomen is too solidly black.
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| Suspected Orange-tailed Mining Bee |
A few days before all this, I fitted in a trip to Prestwick Carr in temporarily overcast weather. I went late in the day, hoping to catch up with a short-eared owl which duly failed to appear. However I did get a nice view of a wren, and a chance one of a willow warbler, which I had first thought was a whitethroat! At the feeders there was a willow tit and a tree sparrow I didn't even notice seeing.
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Well I did say the light was poor! It certainly made the only speckled wood butterfly seen look a bit sombre.
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| Speckled Wood |
I reckon Butterfly Conservation NE will record a record drop in Speckled Wood numbers this year.
More about my holiday shortly...
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