Troubled By Flies...

 In spite of changeable weather, sporadic sightings have still continued.

A week ago on Sunday was the last day clear of rain, when on a bike ride I spotted the first red admiral I have seen since early March plus a few whites, although still to find a small white that will pose for the cameras.

Apart from that I found  my first garden bumblebee of the season - a queen - rooting around the ground last Friday. 

Garden Bumblebee Queen

You can just make out the yellow strip straggling abdomen and thorax though the the tail stripe is almost totally invisible.

Since then it has been very hitty-missy but I did manage a few sightings on Tuesday.

Heading into the summerhouse I discovered a small bumblebee battering itself on the glass. It never settled but was easy enough to capture in a bug box, where it perhaps understandably continued to struggle.  However I saw enough to identify it as a male early bumblebee.  The giveaway was a small orange tip at the tail.

Early Bumblebee

I think this is the first time I've seen a male.

When I left the summerhouse immediately afterwards to check something else I returned to find, comically enough, a buff-tailed bumblebee battering itself against the same pane of glass. This time the bug box served as a rescue mechanism.

Otherwise the supposedly rare red-girdled mining bee put in a lengthy visit (the fourth in total) and a large nomad bee posed perfectly of a leaf of garlic mustard. 

Another Nomad

As ever, it's hard to identify nomad bees precisely though I would say it seemed different to the one I mentioned in my last post.

Before that, I was starting to be pestered by flies.  Not because they were getting intrusive but because I couldn't identify them.  I did get as far as eventually realising the one on the left might not be a common dronefly but the second one had me completely confused.

Tapered Dronefly

member of Platycheirus family

No I'd never heard of the Platycheirus family either. I'm relying on expert testimony here.

Then something strange happened.  What appeared to be two small moths started circling each other aggressively like some butterflies do, except that when one landed it was clearly a fly with broad, darkly-patterned wings.  I got a photo of it but the features didn't show up well.  Also of little help is the brief video I got of one of them flying off:-

Unidentified Flying Objects

I've never seen anything like it before.

Shortly afterwards the skies closed in.  Maybe they'll re-appear one day. 

Bumble Bees buzzing butterflies less so...

As the warm weather has slowly tailed off somewhat I have over the past eight days seen all the common species of bumblebee.

This was unsurprising as I started last Sunday with a bumblebee walk with K at Northumberland Park in North Shields.  Here we quickly accounted for buff-tailed bumblebee, early bumblebee, red-tailed bumblebee and common carder, but only one red admiral although there were various whites on flying duties

Early Bumblebee

Red Admiral

There was actually quite an impressive number of early bumblebees, the first I have seen this year.

Also noted were a male red-tailed bumblebee and a single beefly that I cam across while foraging.

We did a short bike ride to Ponteland on Tuesday which took in one or two sightings as we passed by - a single stoat, a tree bumblebee, various further flying whites and, pleasingly a single small tortoiseshell.  Good to know they are still around.

However all the bumblebee sightings were to be replicated more locally  over the past couple of days, mainly in my own garden - but with the eventual addition of garden bumblebee.

I've been struck this year by the big difference in size between male and female carder bees, the females seeming particularly large.

Female Carder Bee

There were some photographic difficulties with tree bumblebee and garden bumblebee though, in the former case because they weren't settling for more than a few seconds and in the latter because they spent most of their time buried in an aquilegia flower.  Eventually I got one in flight and captured the other in the bugbox.

Tree Bumblebee

Garden Bumblebee

I had to go a bit further afield to find another red-tailed bumblebee but found one not far from the Metro Centre of all places.  It was a female an here you can see the difference compared to the males seen at North Shields.

Red-tailed Bumblebee (m)

Red-tailed Bumblebee (f)

Butterflies have not been spotted recently, but I did find this tiny moth on my back patio door yesterday.

Unable to find an obvious match i went down the referral root and the best bet seems to be that it is a faded version of the yellow barred brindle.

Yellow-barred brindle

Missions Impossible

My efforts to make something of the last days of summer haven't succeeded.

Developments in the garden have at least been interesting, if not particularly rewarding.  A couple of weeks ago, it was still possible to see the odd comma or small tortoiseshell on the buddleia but they have now absented themselves leaving the peacocks and some large whites to dominate, apart from a single red admiral doggedly appearing most days. During the patchy sunny spells, there can be up to ten peacocks at a time.  I haven't bothered snapping them repeatedly.  

In terms of bees, mainly carder and honeybees have visited, though the increasing occurrence of garden bumblebees continued until recently.

Garden Bumblebee

Elsewhere it really has been a bit of a blank.  

I did a ride to the Rising Sun Country Park hoping for some variety, but in spite of expansive meadowland, the best I could muster was a couple of whites and two commas on a hedgerow - so pretty disappointing.  There were a few dragonflies around but not settling. So the most interesting thing I observed was this couple near St Peter's.  They appear to have been conjoined at birth. 

Mercouple

A ride to the Havannah Reserve also proved fruitless as the hot spot for butterflies has now been totally covered in heather eliminating bird's foot trefoil, so no hope of small heath or small copper.  A lady dogwalker observed that the site has now been taken over by a mob called Urban Green who aren't maintaining it properly.   I noted that there was actually more vegetation (producing more peacocks) at the West end of the reserve.  The whole area is slowly being surrounded by housing anyway.

On Friday I sussed out a couple of meadows near Stella without result and cycled along the Tyne before deciding to ride along the Tyne for a last visit to the Spetchells.  There were a few green-veined white and about three speckled wood, which I noticed were of very small size, suggesting under nourishment.

At the Spetchells itself I had hoped for a last chance of a dingy skipper, which aspiration the almost total lack of bird's foot trefoil put an abrupt end to.  I saw one red-tailed bumblebee but was by deceived - a couple of imitators doing a credible job of apeing a sizeable wasp and a mining bee.

Drone Fly

Wasp Imitator

The one (of several others) hanging round the bee holes is some kind of drone fly and the wasp imitator looks like a thing called the yellow-barred peat hoverfly.  But on a chalky hill, who am I to say?

One good thing, since I've bemoaned their absence, was a showing of several speckled wood by the trees, looking a good bit healthier than the ones I'd seen earlier.

Speckled Wood

Yesterday was another hopeful trip to the Harthope Valley where colletes bees had recently been observed but all I managed was a few carder bees and honey bees amongst the diminishing heather.

Here the silver lining was that a single small tortoiseshell turned up while I was having a snack.

Small Tortoiseshell

I suppose all this activity was determined by the notion that the butterfly season had such a slow start that it might go on a little longer.  If anything it's finished slightly earlier and there are several species I just haven't seen at all this year.   On reflection, I might have seen more butterflies if I'd spent the time in the garden.

Bees but no Butterflies

Foraging in the garden and a visit to Wallington Hall Walled Garden have produced a fair selection of bees but not much in the way of butterflies.  The occasional orange tip and green-veined white has turned up but mainly on trips out.  The big question is what has happened to the speckled wood? I reckon my confirmed total for Spring was two when normally I would have expected to see scores.

In the garden tree bumblebees and carder bees have been fairly consistent while the red mason bee has been much less in evidence.  More common than in previous years have been garden bumblebee and early bumblebee, turning up fairly regularly.

Garden Bumblebee

Early Bumblebee

I've continued to tangle with the odd nomad bee, of which this is an example:

Nomad Bee

Nomad (underside)

I've seen these before so not uncommon. I'd hoped the all-red and black underside might be a clue, but it seems to get me no further.

Red-tailed bumblebees have started to turn up and at Wallington, I got a nice view of a red queen:

Red-tailed Bumblebee Queen

Also there were a few white-tailed bumblebees and one or two that had a break in the abdominal stripe, meaning they could have been broken-belted bumblebees.  White-tailed have also been spotted in the garden.

White-tailed Bumblebees

Wallington provided me with a first damselfly of the year - a common blue.

Common Blue Damselfly

More of a puzzle amongst the honeybees was this. Eventually I came to the conclusion it was a late-appearing buffish mining bee.

Buffish Mining Bee

On the way to and from Wallington I heard and saw several yellowhammer, and tried unsuccessfully to take a photo of one on the way back.  Notably I did not see a single bird of prey and only heard one skylark.  At one point I thought I might have heard a grasshopper warbler but couldn't be certain.

In the garden there have been no noteworthy birds apart from a brief appearance by a woodpecker , but there is an obvious reason for this:

Grey Squirrel

Dazed and Confused

Eventually the weather had to perk up, resulting in an increase in activity both in the garden and elsewhere.

One of the first signs of this about ten days ago was finding a large number of nomad bees swarming around my forget-me-nots.  I've never seen so many together and hardly any were actually settling, so a bit of a scunner.

I was fairly comfortable identifying Gooden's nomad bee and in subsequent days reckoned I'd identified male and female Panzer's nomad bees, one of which also turned up (I think) at Bolam Lake on Friday.

Gooden's Nomad Bee

Panzer's Nomad bee

The presumed female I caught in a bug box at home had entirely red and black bands on the underside, which tallied with a photo on the internet.

Then much more recently, this item turned up and also fell victim to brief imprisonment the bug box.

Nomad Bee

For reasons that are hard to define too closely, I'm not convinced that this is a panzer's.  Perhaps it's a bit too large, particularly in the thorax area.  So I started to wonder about flavous nomad as the nearest alternative but a bit of research show's that Marsham's and Kirkby's nomad bees are possible locally.  So I'm now unsure about nomad bees with any red markings...

Also, as there are so many nomad bees, where are the mining bees they predate?

Also confusing has been the continuing lack of butterflies settling in the garden. The couple that have were both green-veined whites but I had to take a bike trip along the Tyne before I could get a snap of an orange tip - a rather bedraggled female.

Green-veined White

Orange Tip

Now orange tips are everywhere including five in the garden yesterday, but still not settling or only briefly.

One clear certainty is that the red mason bee is back in big numbers and the wee bug hotel (more like a bug B&B really) is doing a roaring trade.

Red Mason Bees

I was also fairly confident of identifying a Hawthorn Mining |Bee at Bolam Lake...

Hawthorn Mining Bee

... unless it's Gwynne's Mining Bee, or something completely different?

For a few days now, I've puzzled over this small bee that landed on a californian poppy:

Chocolate Mining Bee

After careful consideration, I think chocolate mining bee.  I saw one last year I believe.

And again on bees, I definitely saw a garden bumblebee the other day.

Garden Bumblebee

Okay the tail looks a bit weird but I got a really good look at the double stripe around the waist.  You can just about make it out.

Lastly on a quick tour of a few lakes in Northumberland, it really looked like our small group was not going to see anything beyond standards like tufted duck, canada goose, common tern and great crested grebe.

Great Crested Grebe

Common Tern

Then, just as I was turning to go back to the car, someone someone spotted on osprey flying close overhead with a large fish between its claws.

Dazed and confused indeed!

The Known and the Unknown

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.

Early Bumblebee Queen

Around the same time I found a mining bee on trefoil, which was identified as A probable Wilkes' Mining Bee.

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!

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.

Very Small Copper

Small Red Damselflies

You have to look hard to see the second damselfly.

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.

Frog crawling...

Bat climbing...

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....

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.

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.

Rust Fungus

Bird walking on water...

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.

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:

The first two are of the same bee.