Today we woke up to a mild, sunny day and I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of active bugs about. I made a count of species and when I got to twelve I was reminded of the traditional carol and made up a buggy version:
12 ladybirds walking | 11 winter-gnats dancing |10 honeybees buzzing |9 bluebottles basking | 8 leafhoppers leaping | 7 woodlice hiding | 6 hoverflies flying | 5 snails sleeping | 4 spiders weaving | 3 harlequins | 2 drone flies | and a bumblebee on ivy
The honeybees in the local wildlife garden were coming out tripping over each other and ladybirds (7 spots mostly but also harlequins and 22 spots) were awaken by the mild temperature. I counted 5 spider species outside (Tegenaria, Zygiella, Pholcus, Steatoda, Linyphia). The main surprise was the bumblebee worker, extremely fast and active and with pollen baskets full with pollen.
Here is a slideshow of bugs seen and photographed today
2 comments:
Wow, there's a lot going on in your garden at the moment. Love the jolly 22-spot ladybird!
Thank you, I love 22 spots too, so dainty! This high bugblog count was only today as it was so mild. In the last few weeks everything was quite subdued. I keeped hoping for a butterfly, but it didn't happen ;-(
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