A Turn up for the Bee Books

Well the mining bees are turning up thick and fast and testing the depths of my rusty knowledge.  Unfortunately a lot of them are coming up as unidentifiable or suggestions from the likes of iNaturalist or Google Lens are inconsistent or contaminated by American sources.

However one particular lead has struck gold as it appears I may have seen a bit of a rarity - the red-girdled mining bee.

Red-girdled Mining Bee

This has been confirmed as feasible by a local expert who now thinks it may have been under reported in the North East as previously thought only to occur on the Spetchells.  But it occurred to me that I had seen something very similar at the Calaminarian Grassland near Wylam three years ago, when I thought it was a blood bee.

Anyway it has been turning up in the garden regularly (sunshine permitting.)  Here's an attempted close-up in the bug box:-

Close-up

This came from a video that I accidentally stopped after four seconds... Doh!

Otherwise a degree of confusion reigns over visiting mining bees in terms of establishing what kind of mining bee is visiting, for example this one:

Mining Bee

Or this one:

Mining Bee

... whereas this one could be the first honey bee of the year or another mining bee.

What seems clear from the number I get plus nomads and beeflies is that there must be a promised land of mining bees nearby.  Old maps of the area where I live are interestingly marked "sewage works."

By contrast the plentiful red mason bees are easy to spot.  They are starting to show some tentative interest in the bug hotel and still great fans of the summer house.

Red Mason Bee

Unfortunately one silly red mason bee managed to fall into a bucket of water, after which I fortunately managed to rescue it and found a sunny spot so it could dry off before flying again.

After bath

Before flying

Nevertheless, I still managed to get confused by one item.

Unidentified

This has the shape of a red mason bee but appears a good deal darker.  I wondered if it was a male but not convinced.

Not a great photo anyway.

A ladybird spot or two

On Saturday I went on another Natural History Society walk at The Spetchells in slightly gloomy weather - again.  Compared to the Morpeth one a few weeks ago it was a bit disappointing.  It was a large group of about 20, which limited the opportunity to share sightings with others and not as well organised.

The first twenty minutes of a planned two hours were actually spent foraging in the undergrowth at the edge of the Tyne leading to a sudden yomp to the Spetchells, by which time I had captured what I thought was an interesting bee but couldn't catch up with the leaders to check.  In fact it was probably just a buffish mining bee that was carrying a lot of pollen.

Buffish Mining Bee with pollen

I had been hoping to see an ashy mining bee but as far as I'm aware the subject didn't come up.  

Nevertheless some interesting sightings occurred.  While still next the Tyne I caught sight of a very small ladybird that only two spots.  It was of course a two-spot ladybird.  This was quite pleasing as it was the first time I've identified one of the less common ones.

Two-Spot Ladybird

As the main group didn't manage to get more than about three hundred yards into The Spetchells, some including myself foraged ahead.  I managed to find two dingy skipper and a couple of red-tailed bumblebees.  The photos aren't up too much, in the latter case because of the bug tube I used.

Dingy Skipper

Red-tailed Bumblebee

There were some nifty wee bees moving around the clumps of speedwell that eluded both camera and bug box though I did get a good view.  Apparently they were red-girdled mining bees.  The diversity of mining and nomad bees never ceases to amaze!

Before we got ushered back, I did a quick check for common blues but the bird's foot trefoil was only just starting to show and none were to be found.  I did however catch up with a single red admiral catching a fleeting bit of sunshine - the first I have seen this summer.

Back at the Tyne we could hear but not see a singing blackcap and earlier there had been a few willow warblers and someone reported hearing a garden warbler.  I don't even know what they sound like.

Still unsure about what to do about the ongoing jackdaw invasion, it was however interesting to observe that one of the visitors is slightly leucistic on both flanks.

Slightly leucistic Jackdaw