Insects on Ivy

Struggling for two weeks to finally shift a heavy cold and chest infection, I took a laborious bike ride to Corbridge with the plan of checking out the several bushes of ivy on the way back to the Tyne.  

In fact the areas where the ivy was actually flowering were still fairly scarce. South of Styford I did find one good crop that was popular with honey and bumblebees but no sign of any ivy bees, which I think could possibly be found in the area. One thing I did find was a rather large hoverfly which according to others is a pellucid hoverfly (genus volucella.)

Pellucid Hoverfly

A little further on there was a south-facing bush with more bee action going on, plus a visit by a red admiral to nectar on the ivy flowers.

My attention was mainly drawn by a very large queen bumblebee with a decidedly brown tail.  I was trying to figure out which species of queen it was. The matter was resolved when it was sexually assaulted by what was clearly a buff-tailed male so that I once again found myself witnessing insect pornography.  The tussle went on quite a long time and, when I tried to move some leaves for a better view, spilled over onto my glove.

The Queen

The tussle...

...on my glove

After all this, I stopped off again at Wylam to see how the known ivy bees again.  The action was considerable:

Ivy Bees

A large area of ivy that hadn't flowered yet was also found near the Tyne East of Bywell.  This might be worth further investigation as ivy bees are known to favour river banks.

In the garden, space on the buddleia is becoming tight and painted lady and small tortoiseshell had to share the same bloom.

Painted Lady and Small Tortoiseshell

Between Summer and Autumn

I did a couple of trips this week as meteorological summer came to an end.

On Bank Holiday Monday I revisited Wallington Hall Walled Garden and made an early common sighting - a common darter.  More interesting however was one of those bumblebees that just doesn't look right and was eventually confirmed as a field cuckoo bee.  It was also nice to catch up with a red-tailed bumblebee worker as one hasn't appeared for a while when I've been out.

Field Cuckoo Bee

Common Darter

Red-tailed Bumblebee

There wasn't quite as much around as last year, when the weather was noticeably better.

However, I did take the opportunity to check for ivy bees at Wylam Bridge on the way home.  At first sight it seemed quiet but on checking it became clear that they were there in force, probably over 100.

Ivy Bees

They were all males apparently so probably hadn't been out long.

On Friday, I was on a bee walk at Allenheads where heavy winds emphasised the change in the seasons though it at least remained reasonably warm. Here we saw over ten broken-belted bumblebees but my understanding of the species was rather shattered by the information that they don't always have an interruption to the upper yellow band on the abdomen.  Otherwise bee sightings were restricted to white-tailed bumblebees plus one buff-tailed bumblebee and several common carder bees (rather than the moss carder bee we'd hoped for).

There were also a coupe of sightings of the fox moth caterpillar and isolated butterflies including a single, very small common blue.

Broken-belted Bumblebee

Fox Moth caterpillar

Perhaps more exciting was that we (rather than I) discovered a couple of flowers that are known to be rare.  These were the autumn gentian and the grass of parnassus.

Autumn Gentian

Grass of Parnassus

It seems the latter is a Cumbrian emblem.

Meanwhile it has been business as usual in the garden but still with one or two surprises.

I found an interesting fly I am provisionally guessing to be tetanocera ferruginae (common buff snailkiller) and the hornet mimic hoverfly has turned up again on two successive days.

Tetanocera Ferruginae

Hornet Mimic Hoverfly

Then frustratingly yesterday I encountered a large, dark bumblebee but just could not get a decent shot of it.  From observation I think it might be a tree bumblebee queen.

Tree Bumblebee Queen?

Maybe another day...