Cherry pollinators fest!

It was a warm, sunny afternoon and the cherry was at full bloom (three weeks earlier than last year), attracting a menagerie of bees, butterflies, queen wasps and flies. I did saw a honeybee, but I think even without this species, the cherry would be fully pollinated given the number and diversity of insects on it.

 Several bees were firsts for the year, including Bombus lapidarius, B. pascuorum and Melecta albifrons. I saw the first male red mining bee yesterday but they seemed to be everywhere today.

Bombus lapidarius queen 

Anthophora plumipes female

Queen wasp grooming

Possibly a dronefly

Male Osmia bicornis

and a Peacock also settled repeatedly on the blossom to feed

A small shining metallic wasp fell on the small pond and was rescued.

The first water beetle in the Victorian bath that makes our mini pond, awaiting ID.

Melecta albifrons, a cuckoo bee that parasitises A. plumipes, feeding on Muscari

 Melecta albifrons,  resting on a daffodil

And finally, a shot of a Red Mason Bee patrolling the Muscari.

Courting Small Tortoiseshells

Several common Nymphalid butterflies, like the Comma, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell (but also the Brimstone) overwinter as adults. They were born the previous summer and spent the sunny days of late summer and early autumn feeding and accumulating the fat reserves needed to spend the winter. Then they searched for a suitable dry, sheltered place (often inside outbuildings or roof spaces) and entered a resting period during the colder months of the year, when nectar resources are most scarce. These are often the first butterflies to fly on spring, sometimes awaken during sunny, mild winter days, but most regularly appearing in later March and early April. While before their winter rest, food was the only thing on their minds and they were happy to feed in groups, their interests during spring are clearly shifted to reproduction. Now males are actively defending temporal territories around south-facing nettle beds waiting for passing females, and fighting intruding males in spiral flights. When a female is detected, he will chase her at high speed to court her.
This afternoon, on a sunny clearing full of sprouting nettles, four Small Tortoiseshells danced around each other. A pair, eventually found themselves on their own and landed on the ground. The male approached the female from behind and started to court her tapping her with his antennae (above). She will normally fly away again and the settling and tapping will continue until she accepts his advances and they mate on a sheltered spot on the ground. The pair of courting tortoiseshells flew away quickly before I could see where they settled. You can watch a video of the courtship of the Small Tortoiseshell here.

Spring at last!

The last couple of days have seen the temperatures finally rising over the freezing conditions we've had during March and early April. The lovely, milder, sunny weather we had today meant  I had many 'firsts' of the year. Until today this year, I had not seen a butterfly and I had only seen the occasional bees and bumblebees. Today Garden Ants, Lasius niger, were active in the garden, a clumsy female Dronefly enjoyed the sun and walked over the daffodil flowers feeding (above). Two male Anthophora plumipes patrolled around flowers, and even the first female of the year payed a short visit too. The males occasionally fed on wallflowers, hyacinths and wild primroses.
I saw my first butterfly of the year today, a Small Tortoiseshell, unfortunately, could get no photos, as my cat found her before me and chased her away.

This queen wasp, Vespula vulgaris, also first of the year, got in the conservatory.

A Tegenaria with its egg sac on a stilt. It is under the lid of the water butt, so I guess the photo is upside down

A male Anthophora plumipes rests for a few seconds on foxglove leaves.

My cat becomes quite the entomologist when flying insects start to appear. She often alerts me of insects in the garden, but also disturbs them when they try to feed, to my annoyance! Later in the year, she becomes disinterested, and I can relax and watch insects at my leisure.

Small Tortoiseshell butterflies

A couple of weeks ago I did the usual annual compilation for 2009. I have compiled my butterflies records and submitted them to the local Butterfly Conservation recorder since 2003. It has been a super butterfly year. I recorded a total of 17 sp. within the boundaries of the City of Hull. One of the most noticeable species  this year has been the Small Tortoiseshell. This Small Tortoiseshell was the first butterfly I saw this year, after the long, cold winter, sunbathing on the pavement on a busy street.

There has been a lot of talk about the population decrease in this species, possibly due to mortality due a newly arrived parasitoid tachinic fly, Sturmia bella. This fly has been found to parasitise up to 40% of south England Small Tortoiseshell caterpillar clusters. There seem to be additional reasons, as this butterfly shows marked cyclic population fluctuations even before the fly was recorded in the UK.

 The graph above shows the collated results extracted from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme 2007 report (well worth browsing if you like butterflies).
Despite all this, 2009 has been the best Small Tortoiseshell year since I record butterflies.
This is my total year count graph, showing the 'rebound' of the Small Tortortoiseshell after the 2006 'low'.

This is the phenology of this species in Hull.

It seems likely that there are two broods a year.
I discovered a great butterfly site, packed with info and with superb photos: learnaboutbutterflies.com

Ivy fest!

The end of September is the time of the year when I like to visit an old ivy growing on a south-facing brick wall. Today was the first day I saw it flowering for good. Ivy (Hedera helix) is an unusual plant in that its flowering season starts with the beginning of autumn. Given the scarcity of alternative sources or nectar at a this crucial time of the year - when many insects are getting ready for winter dormancy, egg laying or migration, this marks a food bonanza for many insects, the final feast of the year. Drone flies (Eristalis) and green and bluebottles, hover-flies, wasps, honey bees, queen bumblebees, butterflies (Red Admirals, Small Tortoishells, Painted Ladies, Large and Small Whites, Commas) buzz on the green-yellow ivy flowers.

Myathropa florea

Helophilus pendulus

Syrphus sp.

Bluebottle, Calliphora vomitoria

Eristalis tenax

Above, an illustration of the diversity of hoverflies who use Ivy

Red Admiral

Comma

And all them must keep watch for garden spiders, who never say no to a juicy hover-fly...

By the beginning of December the Ivy flowers are gone and the berries start to grow.

 This is one of the last ivy blooms of the year, with a late red admiral (photo taken 30/10/2006):

The end of summer

Autumn is quickly approaching. The leaves on some lime branches are already yellow and a few brown leaves rustle on the ground. The squirrels have dropped some early conkers they have nibbled. But today is a bright, warm day, with lots of butterflies. A Speckled Wood was sunning itself in the park and a Comma, a Small White and a Large White visited the garden in the morning.

We walked past one of the last buddleias in good bloom. It is now the end of the buddleia flowering season and this particular bush teems with butterflies today. I count six Red Admirals (probably already migrating south) , three Small Tortoiseshells (ready to hibernate) and a Large White.

One Small Tortoishell fed on the dandelions amongst the grass.

Other insects included a queen Bombus lapidarius, velvety black and red feeding on Agapanthus, and B. pascuorum, the most common bumblebee these days, on Sedum spectabile (below).

Lots of Araneus diadematus. One five-legged male creeps close to a female's web.

Another female nearby spins its web.

The large ivy is not flowering yet, although it's got lots of buds.