A surprise migrant moth

The afternoon was sunny and pleasant as me and my daughter were walking home from school. We had stopped to watch a tight cluster of garden spiderlings on a hedge, when, from the other side of the street I spotted what I thought was a butterfly moving to feed on a large clump of Red Valerian in the full sun. I kept watching and then I realised it was a Hummingbird Hawkmoth! We crossed the street, let some people walk pass and watched the beautiful moth as it hovered from tiny flower to tiny flower, its long tongue outstretched, sucking the nectar. The light was lovely and the background hard to beat.
 The Hummingbird Hawkmoth is a migrant from southern regions, it overwinters as an adult and it wouldn't withstand British winters. It tends to appear in times of warm weather. I found it a bit surprising, given how cool this spring is being, but maybe migration may happen in response to warm weather in the areas where they come from, and it's been very warm around the Mediterranean. If you see one you can report it to Butterfly Conservation Migrant watch, where you can also see an interactive map with all sightings submitted.
What a treat this was for day 11 of #30dayswild.

A solitary bee quartet

I had so many wild things this summery sunny day that if was hard to settle for an invertebrate group to feature. For lunch I went out with fellow wildlife-lovers Robert Jaques and Callum MacGregor, and tried to capture some hoverflies. Hoverflies were indeed a good candidate for my wild group today as there were plenty, and of many species. Many males were hovering, but a couple of Myathropa florea males managed to sit on my hand, Robert's shoulder and Callums head and avoid the insect net altogether. Episyrphus balteatus, the marmalade fly, were also hovering, and the beautifully metallic Epistrophe eligans. Then I spotted a new spider, with a caterpillar on its web, and then another, would I feature spiders? Then a Red Mason bee started feeding on Buttercups, maybe a wild solitary bee day?

Female Red Mason bee, Osmia bicornis on buttercups. One of her 'horns' is visible at the front of her head. She uses its horns to mould mud she uses to seal her nest.

 Later after work I popped in for ten minutes in the wildlife garden. It was quite warm at the time. A leaf-cutter bee was feeding on thyme, and then chives. Its white and golden mittens flashed as it fed, a Willoughby's leaf cutter bee. Definitely a solitary bee day!

Male Willoughby Leaf-cutter bee, one of the easiest to identify by its front legs, which are covered on white-golden hairs in the shape of mittens, just visible here.

Back home I went to the sage. I had seen a favourite bee of mine yesterday very briefly. Anthophora furcata, a male which didn't settle, patrolling around the sage and the hedge woundwort. This is a rich brown bee with a very long tongue. Males have a yellow face and they have a strong preference for hedge woundwort, but also like several others flowers with deep corollas. Males appear, as many other bees, earlier in the season, settle in an area with their favourite flowers and check other bees, often head-butting them, while in search of females. And there he was, lovely and fresh. He even stopped the frantic patrolling to settle on a sage leaf to bask for a while, its back and face covered on pollen.

A male Anthophora furcata.

As I watched the A. furcata, a smaller bee caught my attention. It was a female Osmia caerulescens. This is a long tongued bee too, females have a bluish tinge and white hairs on stripes on its abdomen. After feeding on the sage, the bee stopped and stretched its tongue several times.

Female Osmia caerulescens

A female Osmia bicornis in the garden on the wallflower Erysimum 'Bowles mauve'.

If you'd like to learn to identify solitary bees, the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society is a wonderful resource. Identification sheets for common solitary bees, often found in gardens are available too. There are 205 species, many hard to identify, but a few common ones are easy to identify once you become familiar with them.

Walking with woodlice

The day started bright and warm, but I had my allocated wild slot in the early morning, so I decided to look and photograph some common woodlouse species. We tend to take these common invertebrates for granted, but woodlice are a diverse group with over 30 species in the UK with a range of habitat requirements, not all found on wood, and many species have quite restricted distributions. Five species are relatively easy to find and you are likely to have at least three in your garden, so my aim today was to find these common species.
  The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's Wildlife Garden by Pearson Park was a good place to start, as Pill Woodlouse can reliably be found. And voila, a couple of Pill Woodlouse, Armadillidium vulgare, walking on the path greeted me, although they were in a bit of a rush and didn't stay around long. This species can survive in relatively dry habitats, and is not unusual to see it active in the open during the day. It can be found in sandy beaches, often under stones. Together with other related species it has the feature of being able to roll into a ball when disturbed, with its tough exoskeleton affording some protection to its softer underside.

Pill Woodlouse, Armadillidium vulgare, crossing the path at good speed

I then moved into the woodpile area. This is a shady, moist spot amongst trees. I looked under some logs and, squinting and getting really close I could see some Common Pygmy Woodlice, Trichoniscus pusillus. They are reddish and shiny, not very flattened and very tiny (up to 4 mm).

Common Pygmy Woodlice, Trichoniscus pusillus, on the underside of a log

 These little woodlice were in the company of the Common Shiny woodlouse, Oniscus asellus (above, one found under a brick) which looked like giants in comparison. This species reaches a maximum length of 16 mm, and are amongst the largest native species in the UK. The common shiny woodlouse is shiny and is quite flattened, mainly grey with paler patches and spots (where it stores calcium to form its exoskeleton).

 I went into a drier area, in the orchard, where there are loose bricks and pots over concrete. There I found one of the commonest species, the Common Rough Woodlouse, Porcellio scaber. It is a large species, slaty grey, with clear tubercles on its back. This species often forms large aggregations of various ages under logs, stones or bricks. This behaviour is thought to help reduce humidity loss.

Common Rough Woodlouse, Porcellio scaber, found under a pot

Under the same pot I found a Common Stripy or Fast Woodlouse, Philoscia muscorum. This species tends to have a dark head and a dark stripe along its back. It is quite colourful for a woodlouse and it keeps its body high when moving, which it can do quite quickly (hence its common name).

Fast Woodlouse, Philoscia muscorum, under a pot

That completes the group of common woodlouse species. But I had seen a few Rosy Woodlouse while moving some pots a few days ago. This is not very common, I tend to find single individuals under larger stones or under large pots that haven't been moved in a while, where there is enough damp organic material or mud. I thought I'd give it a try when I got back home. After lifting the pot and looking closely I did find a single one! They are 5 mm long, pink to orange, and have a yellow stripe on their backs and despite their size, quite obvious eyes. They have a rough surface, but my photo really didn't make them justice, see this one for a close look.

A Rosy or Pink Woodlouse, Androniscus dentiger, found under a large pot.

More Information

An identification key for the most common woodlouse species by the Natural History Museum, here.

A snail safari

It was drizzling when I left home for work, a perfect day to look for some active snails for 30 Days Wild day 2 (always look at the bright side of life!). I hadn't walked long when I spotted some Strawberry Snails, Trochulus striolatus on the stones lining a front garden, probably feeding on algae encrusting the stones. A little while ahead a Garden Snail, Cornu aspersum, also in a front garden, probably searching for something more substantial.  I popped into Pearson Park Wildlife Garden. It is hard to visit it without finding a Kentish snail, Monacha cantiana, which love to walk on the paths. I found one climbing on grass (top shot). Many Kentish snails or all sizes were active on a wet trunk by the path, amongst them a White-Lipped snail, Cepaea hortensis.
 At lunchtime, I popped out a wooded area on campus and rooted around in the undergrowth and inspected the underside of pieces of wood and rocks. My first find was a Draparnaud snail, Oxychilus draparnaudi under a very rotten tree branch. Later, inside a plastic pot (part of an insect hotel) I discovered a Girdled Snail, Hygromia cinctella, which was nice as it is a first record for this area.
 Once home I knew where to find a tiny snail: in my log pile. After finding many garden snails dormant in amongst the logs, I spied a small group of Common Chrysalis Snail, Lauria cylindracea, and the best thing is that they were also active!
 Today's total then of seven species of snails found in not much time. At least two other species are quite common within walking distance of home: the Brown Lipped snail, Cepaea nemoralis, the Garlic Snail, Oxychilus alliarius, and the Rotund disk, Discus rotundatus.

Strawberry Snails, Trochulus striolatus

Garden snail, Cornu aspersum 

White lipped snail, Cepaea hortensis.

Draparnaud snail, Oxychilus draparnaudi

Girdled Snail, Hygromia cinctella

The Common Chrysalis snail, Lauria cylindracea

If you like snails and would like to learn to identify them I recommend these two publications, a folded up laminated An Illustrated Guide to the Land Snails of the British Isles, and the 2nd ed. Land Snails in the British Isles (with identification keys and drawings), and of course follow James Morris-Harding's quest to see all British land snails in 2015 the Snail Trail, either on Twitter (@UKSnailTrail) or on his blog.
 And if you identify them, why not send your records to iRecord?

Bumblebee watching

I am doing 30 Days Wild with the Wildlife Trusts. My vague plan is to have an invertebrate emphasis, to make an effort to see more of them given the dismal, windy, cool spring we are having, and to revive the almost dormant blog. Bumblebees appear to be having a particularly bad year. The first workers have been few and small, and even if many of their favourite plants are blooming, I only see the single worker about every now and then. I decided bumblebee watching would be the first wild event of 30 Days Wild. After all, Bumblebees fly during cold, cloudy days.
 Over the years, I have introduced plenty of native plants in the garden, which attract an assortment of solitary bees, bumblebees and other insects. Primroses flower early in the spring and are visited by the Hairy Footed flower bee, Anthophora plumipes, and occasionally by Bee Flies. Later,  Welsh Poppies buzz with bumblebees collecting pollen. At this time of the year Hedge Woundwort (above, a bee's eye view of a flower spike) and White Dead-Nettles are in bloom, and they are followed by long-tongued solitary bees and bumblebees.
This afternoon I managed to see just two bumblebee species, the Carder Bee, Bombus pascuorum and the Early Bumblebee, Bombus pratorum. B. pascuorum is a long tongued bumblebee and likes flowers from the mint family. It visited sage and hedge woundwort, while B. pratorum has a very small tongue and likes flat flowers. It visited Alliums and White dead-nettles. I find that B. pratorum, despite its tiny tongue, sometimes steals nectar through holes at the base of flowers, or is small enough to get inside the flower and reach the nectar.

This Bombus pratorum was visiting White Dead Nettles in the front garden.

A Bombus pascuorum on the sage hedge.