Malcolm and I took advantage of the opportunity to join an organised Bees and Pollinators Walk at Hepple Estate on Saturday.
In spite of good weather early sightings were few but we soon managed to come across garden bumblebee and early bumblebee (seems to be more of both this year) and Malcolm managed to capture an early queen.
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| Early Bumblebee Queen |
Around the same time I found a mining bee on trefoil, which was identified as A probable Wilkes' Mining Bee.
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| Wilkes' Mining Bee |
Someone else found another mining bee in the hawthorn bushes. It was also identified but I forgot to write the name down!
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| Mining Bee |
Over lunch, there were a few nomad bees probing the gaps in the steps and wall of the formal garden, but all were very elusive. One clearly had a red stripe at the top of the thorax, which got me thinking of the flavous nomad bee suspect that was in the garden the other week.
The group headed towards a rougher area around the stream and ponds. Here I came across the only notable butterfly all day, an absolutely tiny small copper and a pair of small red damselflies in the act of mating.
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Mammals turned up as well in the shape of a frog, and more bizarrely a pipistrelle bat that one of the group found swimming in the main pond. We speculated that it had fallen in in pursuit of insects flying over the water and it was eventually decided to put it in a tree, where it immediately climbed higher, perhaps looking for somewhere to sleep.
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Shortly before that I had made what was described by some as the 'find of the day' - a bilberry bumblebee. However I have to fess up immediately and say that I misidentified it. It was the chap next to me who pointed out that the red tail is too big for it to be other than a bilberry bumblebee and proceeded to net it.
This caused a bit of discussion and I wasn't sure I'd got a decent photo of it. So I tried to take a snap of it on the chap's hand before it flew off, which didn't quite work....
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| Bilberry Bumblebee escaping |
Nevertheless a great spot for me, especially thinking how much time I spent searching for them in the Highlands this time last year.
Another first time sighting was this jewel wasp, but less exciting since I'd never heard of them before.
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| Jewel Wasp |
The same applied for the pregnant yellow fly I found that seemed to be only known by a latin name.
On the other hand I had seen a rust fungus at Durisdeer recently and probably the land bird that was curiously walking on some floater weed in the pond, but it flew off in a hurry.
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But in a way the most puzzling thing surrounded this mining bee that my normal bee mentor plucked this out of an oak tree and then was unable to identify it beyond that it was a mining bee and neither of our other two experts could identify it either. It is a rather worn specimen.
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| Unidentified Mining Bee |
I'm not sure if it was this making me less certain or just chance, but in the last couple of days I have found that I have seen a couple of solitary bees in the garden and have no idea what they are.
Here is a selection of what I have found:
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The first two are of the same bee.
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