Buzzzzzzz!!!!!

There was definitely a buzz in the garden today. The usual Anthophora plumipes males were now joined by the first female of the year (above), feeding on the Pulmonaria. The Pulmonaria, unfortunately, was in the shade, so I couldn't take as sharp photos as I would have liked. A male Osmia bicornis (previously rufa) was patrolling the grape Hyacinths and a female Andrena fulva made a brief appearance. Just on cue, as the Cherry, a favourite of this bee, started to bloom yesterday.
 A Green Shieldbug was out sunbathing, also the first of the year. Many young wolf spiders were out too in the sun, stalked by my young cat, who likes to hunt and eat them, to my dismay. A Peacock butterfly passed by, but didn't settle.

Unidentified Andrena sp. on a dandelion.

Male Osmia bicornis

Male Anthophora plumipes.

Green shieldbug

Flea beetle, Altica sp.

A late start of spring

Despite the mild winter, spring is taking a while to start. It has been very windy and cool of late. The last few days have been noticeably milder and still, almost warm when the sun came out. My first Anthophora plumipes male came out on the 12th of March, a bit late, but not unusual. Then there has been a few queen bumblebees and honeybees. The striking thing is that I haven't seen a butterfly this spring yet. A queen wasp bumped against the conservatory window a few days ago, but I couldn't identify it to species. Today, I found a very sluggish queen Common Wasp, Vespula vulgaris, inside the conservatory. Spring is slowly, but surely, on its way.

Flies and bees

The morning started chilly, but when the sun appeared in the middle of the day I peeked out of the conservatory and saw a male Anthophora plumipes, the first of the year, stopping on a stone by the rosemary to sunbathe. It patrolled the garden and briefly settled to feed on the lungwort. I watched another male in a front garden in my street later in the day.

Male A. plumipes feeding on Pulmonaria officinalis.

A bit of hovering...

...and a bit of basking.

  On a south-facing Clematis montana in bloom I found a couple of honeybees and a hoverfly, Syrphus ribesii (top shot).

And in my local wildlife garden, a queen Buff-tailed bumblebee searched for a nest site.

It is the start of the bee season and I shall take my macro camera with me from now on in my outings.

March already

March always takes me by surprise. I realised today that the end of winter is within sight, and it hasn't really felt like a proper winter, as it has been very mild, with a scattering of frosts, although very windy and overcast. With the sun out today, a dronefly Eristalis tenax stirred up and alternatively visited the Laurustinus on the shade and sunbathed in the wall opposite. A pack of young wolf spiders enjoyed the sun too. I wandered around and realised the garden is ready for my favouring early spring invertebrate, Anthophora plumipes, the hairy footed flower bee. Males should be appearing by the end of this week, weather permitting. I photographed their favourite flowers at bee-eye view. I hope they don't make me wait too long.

Pardosa sp wolf spider sunbathing

White dead-nettle

Rosemary

Muscari

Narcissus tete-a-tete

Lungwort

Primroses

Laurustinus blossom and Tree Bumblebee

The blossom of Laurustinus, Viburnum tinus, is brightening the gardens around town. This morning I surprised this Tree Bumblebee queen, the first of the year, basking on the sunny flowers.

Sunshine at last

After stormy, windy and very dark days, there were some long sunny spells on monday and I came across several stirring insects during my daily wanderings. A cold queen Bombus terrestris on the windowsill, with the tiny sprightly springtail, Entomobrya sp, possibly nivalis, on a walkabout around her.
 Then I disturbed a moth in the front garden, the plume moth Amblyptilia acanthadactyla.
But the best find was a very fresh looking peacock settled on the pavement by a fence, with is pictured at the top of the post.

Entomobrya sp.

Bombus terrestris queen.

The plume moth Amblyptilia acanthadactyla

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.

Spring gallery

It has been quite warm today, 18.5 oC! A great day to start spring, the garden was buzzing and there was a lot of "firsts" of the year. One of those days it is hard to choose what to blog about. I saw my first butterflies of the year, a Red Admiral Peacock (in flight), a Small Tortoiseshell feeding on willow and a male Brimstone; first queen wasp; first pair of 7 spots mating and my first photo of a ladybird taking off. Also, first Bombus hypnorum, B. hortorum and first female Anthophora plumipes. The following shots are the best of the day.

A fortunate consequence of 7 spot ladybird communal hibernation is that you don't have to look far for a partner when you wake up!

A groggy queen wasp landed on yellow plastic 

And a hyperparasitoid flightless wasp, possibly Gelis sp. which looks rather like an ant walks on the blue bin

Philodromus spider sunbathing 

The first female Anthophora plumipes leaves a daffodil, which has marked her back with yellow pollen 

A male A. plumipes briefly resting on a buddleia trunk. Males look velvety this early in the year. They have been patrolling the garden since the 11th of March

 A Pholcus spider on the outside toilet looks much fatter than yesterday, after enjoying her spiderly meal.

A Harlequin and a 7 spot look like they are playing peek-a-boo

B. hortorum visiting Hyacinths

Anthophora plumipes is back!

Yesterday it was the equinox, so it is finally spring. We had a sunny mild day today and from first thing in the morning we've had a couple of Anthophora plumipes males patrolling in the garden. I saw the first male of the year on the 17th of March, but it was too fleeting a sight and he did not stop. Today I managed a few shots during the few seconds one of the males Anthophora stopped to rest on a wall. You can see their forward-pointing middle legs, with the plumes of hairs that give them their name. These bees - as honey bees and bumblebees - are extremely endothermic, that is, they are able to increase their body temperature with respect to their environment and this allows them high activity levels at temperatures where other insects just sunbathe to increase their body temperature. Experiments by Graham Stone and colleagues have studied the ability of A. plumipes to increase their internal temperature. Accordingly, at the 8 degrees in which bees were active this morning, their body temperature is likely to have been around 28oC. The males patrolled constantly in a route around the garden and occasionally stopped to feed in some small Daffodils and Primroses. Males always emerge first from the nest where they were born, followed by the females. This is so because in the long tunnels where females nest, they lay fertilised eggs first (which will become females) and the last ones unfertilised (which will become males) and the bees emerge in reverse order of laying as the last eggs laid are closer to the opening.

Dronefly portrait

I photographed this female dronefly, Eristalis tenax, sunbathing on the Phlomis bush. I like the soft green of the leaves and I played with the depth of field to make the background blurry. If you download the large version of the photo you can see yellow pollen on the fly's legs and some has transferred to the leaves. The only flowers nearby were a few crocuses, so I guess the dronefly had been feeding on them before.

Sweet Snowdrops

I cannot get enough of the sunny weather we are having during March. Today, Honey Bees were foraging on Snowdrops and Crocuses. The one on the top photo was clearly collecting pollen, retreating after entering each bloom and hovering while rubbing their legs together. A full pollen basket is clearly visible.

There were two honey bees at the same time in this crocus.

I also saw my first bumblebee today, flying high over my garden, so I couldn't ID it. I was a bit surprised Anthophora wasn't the first bee of the year.

A glimpse of Spring

We've had a wonderful sunny start of March. Mornings are still frosty, but - compared to the past three long, cold, cloudy and gloomy months - spring seems to be on its way. The first Grape Hyacinths (Muscari racemosum) of the year have opened, joining Snowdrops, Crocuses and Primroses. Today I've been tidying up in the garden. There have been many plant casualties of this unusually cold winter, but the survivors have started to grow, buds are thickening and leaves slowly unfurling.

A Wolf Spider (above) walked on a white wall and settled on an Ivy leaf to sunbathe.
 The pair of 7-spotted ladybirds, of which I wrote before, are still nestled together amongst the spiky leaves of the monkey puzzle tree. They have been there since early November. In contrast, I have seen active ladybirds in more sunny positions in the garden, enjoying the sunshine and hiding again afterwards.

A 7 spot ladybird enjoying the sun

A Bluebottle feeding on an Ivy leaf

Unidentified fly

Signs of spring

Once the Chistmas holidays are gone, no matter how cold or gloomy it is out there, it feels so different. The long darkening days of the Autumn are finally gone, and daylight seem to tangibly increase day by day. Sunny, crisp, cold days are a bonus. But is not only the light - or is not only me who feels it - buds are fattening, catkins unfurling and the woodland floor flowers are hurrying up before tree leaves shade the ground. Birds have noticed the longer daylight hours and are singing and pairing. The last day of January and I have already heard wrens, dunnocks, woodpigeons, greenfinches, goldfinches, collared doves, robins and song thrushes singing. It's not only me, is not wistful thinking. There are sings of the new spring already coming.

 Ok, this is BugBlog, where are they? It feels a bit lonely in the sole company of occasional bluebottle or cloud of winter gnats. I am hopeful and keep watch. Any day now, and this means, possible during February, a butterfly, a red admiral, or a small tortoiseshell, will wake up from hibernation and will make my day...