The knapweed bee

A few years ago I introduced some native knapweed in the garden. I planted them on the beds and they did well. However, the following year they didn't come back on the beds, they selfseeded in the cracks in the cement and now I have several large plants growing amongst pots from the cement. They attract many bees, but one in particular, enjoys this plant the most, the small mason bee Osmia leaiana. Males are beautiful golden bees with green eyes, while the females are dark, with an orange brush of hairs under they abdomen, which they use to collect pollen. They often dive head first into knapweed inflorescenced and their orange underside becomes quite visible.
 Today I was very pleased to find out these bees are using my bee hotels, I hope to get some photos of the cells they are stocking soon.

MIni pond backswimmers

During mid May, I noticed lots of backswimmers in my tin bath pond. Since then they have diminished in numbers but grown in size, after several moults they are now about 1 cm long. They are Common Backswimmers, Notonecta glauca, one of the four British species. They swim on their backs, and come out to breath by touching the water surface with the tip of their abdomen. If you fish one out and put it in a small transparent container you might be able to see its white back by lifting the container and looking up. Mine have all white backs as they are not adults yet. They are predators of insects, which fall on the water and become trapped on the water surface, but as adults, they might catch small fish and tadpoles, and they are also cannibalistic. Avoid handling them, as they are said to be able to prick the skin with its mouth parts! They live in all sorts of ponds, including drinking troughs. They are winged and able to fly, and the adults can emerge out of water and disperse in search of new habitats.
 This is my bath pond (photo from last year, the lily is not yet flowering this year).

A just emerged Elephant Hawkmoth

In the early morning, we found this Elephant Hawkmoth, Deilephila elpenor, in the garden, on the base of the iron leg of a chimenea. It took us a bit to realise that it was fresh, just emerged from its pupal skin, wings still floppy. We moved it to a cat-safe location higher up on bushes, where she positioned herself again facing up, wings folded over her back as they filled up.
 Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillars feed on Rosebay Willowherb, Bedstraws and Fuschias. There is a fuschia overhanging our garden and many cleavers. It was nice to realise that this moth's amazing caterpillar, which gives its common name to the moth, grew somewhere in the garden, and pupated nearby on the soil.
 When I came back from work, in the evening, she was still hanging there, her wings hardened and opened (below). Hopefully she'll fly away tonight.

A Southern Hawker

As I was about to leave the park this morning on my way to work I checked around an area of trees for Speckled Woods. Instead, I noticed a large dragonfly flying about and landing on a horse chestnut branch. I approached and searched for it. I had clearly seen where it had landed, but it took me a while to find it again. There! hanging from a leaf was a hawker. It rested, about 4 m high at an angle away from the sun, so it wasn't a great spot for photos, but after a while I managed this shot showing its features. As I checked the photo tonight thinking it's a bit early for Migrant Hawkers, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was an immature Southern Hawker, which I have never seen in the area. Southern Hawkers breed in small ponds or canals, and often in garden ponds. After the adult dragonflies emerge from their native ponds, they spend about month away from water while they mature. Then they will find ponds where to breed. They like to feed on woodland glades, often away from their breeding ponds.

Semaphore flies

After a wildlife-packed June with the 30 days wild challenge, I felt like I needed a new focus and I decided to carry on a wildlife challenge by blogging/tweeting about an invertebrate I've seen that day for July. Yesterday, while walking by the local park pond I saw a Speckled Wood. The butterfly flew away, but it made me notice the flies dancing on the Colt's Foot leaves: they were Semaphore Flies, Poecilobothrus nobilitatus, a whole swarm of them signalling to each other. Although small, this species is very easy to identify by their smoky wings with a white tip. They are very active in July on muddy puddles and ponds.