National Insect Week at Maple Lodge NR

Maple Lodge NR had it's first ever Insect Day today as part of National Insect Week 2016 and I gave up my Sunday to help out. It was hardly a chore. I got to spend my day in the outdoors doing what I love doing, watching and photographing nature, with the added bonus of getting to chat to loads of interested people about our glorious insects.

 

The organisers stationed three of us at different points on the reserve, and guided tours were then led to each three stations as well as a look around the many hides on site. Admission was free, there were refreshments available, moths on view from the previous nights moth trap, plant stall, cake stall, critters from the pond dipping and face painting.

 

At home I had already collected a hoverfly pupa and some ladybird larvae and pupa, and Martin and Jill collected a load more insects this morning, so we could put them in containers for people to view close up. This, I found, went down a storm with the kids. At my station I had 7-spot and Harlequin Ladybirds, Leaf Beetles, my hoverfly pupa and much more in containers that could be passed around.

 

 

 

My hoverfly pupa (above) will eventually emerge as a Marmalade Fly, Episyrphus balteatus (adult below)....

 

Where I was stationed there was a large flowering bramble patch, lots of stinging nettles, patches of Red Campion, thistles and long grasses. The whole area was a magnet for bees, hoverflies, butterflies, damselflies and spiders. I was in my element.

 

I 'hoverated' all day long.....

 

Eristalis sp

Syrphus sp

 

Syrphus vitripennis

Syrphus vitripennis

Helophilus pendulus

and loads and loads of my new favourite, the Great Pied Hoverfly, Volucella pellucens....

 

 

Puddingstone Corner where I was stationed, is always a hot spot for damselflies. There were two species giving good views today, Common Blue and Blue-tailed (which I didn't photograph today)....

 

Common Blue male

Common Blue male close up

Common Blue male and female

and this Common Blue decided to settle on one of my information sheets

Just like my patch, Cranford CP, there are beehives on site and there were plenty of Honeybees visiting the bramble bushes....

 

The brambles were also attracting a lot of bumbles. I even saw my first Tree Bumblebee today but didn't have the camera to hand. Other bumbles seen included Buff-tailed, Common Carder and this rather stunning male White-tailed....

 



 

I know spiders are not technically insects but I've allowed them to be in my blog post purely because the two I saw today were heavy with egg sacs.

This is the wonderful Wolf Spider. They are robust and agile hunters with excellent eyesight. They live mostly solitary and hunt alone. Some are opportunistic hunters pouncing upon prey as they find it or even chasing it over short distances. Some will wait for passing prey in or near the mouth of a burrow. There were two around my station today and one of them had already secreted herself inside a fine web....

 

 

There were also several wonderfully marked Speckled Bush Crickets on the nettle patches..

 

 

The sun and warm weather bought out a few butterflies. I saw two Ringlets that wouldn't settle, and several Green-veined Whites...

 

 

and there were abundant numbers of Meadow Browns....

 

Caterpillars included this Small Tortoiseshell...

 

 

and Peacock....

 

and this beauty is the aptly named Figure Of Eight moth....

 

An absolutely cracking day. The weather stayed good and it was really great to speak to people who had a genuine interest in the reserve and it's insects. Probably the high-light for me was explaining and showing the differences between 7-spot and Harlequin ladybirds to the kids that attended. The look on the faces as they recognised the subtle differences made my day complete.

 

So thank you Martin, Keith etc for allowing me to participate. Put my name on the list for next year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Insect Week at Cranford CP

 It is National Insect Week this week (20-26 June) so this morning I was at Cranford CP to have a look around. The weather wasn't great and insects that I expected to see (Dock Bugs, butterflies, Skippers, damselflies etc) weren't showing well at all. I saw one Large Skipper that wouldn't settle for a photo, one Banded Demoiselle that wouldn't settle and several white butterflies that also wouldn't settle.

 

Before I began my walk and before it was cut short by the rain, I met Alan the local beekeeper. Following on from last Sundays blog (read here) the Honeybee swarm that I found is still hanging high in the ivy above the Secret Garden wall. It's been there six days now and has been fairly dormant due to the horrible weather this week. Alan confirmed it is not one of his Queens and said it was more than likely the Queen from the Stable Block hive. As I mentioned last week, the old Queen will have left her hive after she has laid a new Queen egg. The old Queen won't travel far, they are poor fliers, and her workers will settle wherever she does. Scout bees will be sent out to search the area for a new site. But as the weather was so poor this week, the swarm hasn't moved.....

 

 

Alan said they may have already started to construct a comb, but it really is the wrong place to have a large swarm so he is going to go back tomorrow and remove it. They wont be harmed and will be relocated a couple of miles away. Any nearer than that and they will probably return.

It was great to finally meet Alan, and we had plenty to talk about. Not only is he passionate about Honeybees but he enjoys bird watching too.

 

I checked the other wild hive in the woods, and was pleased to see that is still thriving. You can't see the old comb so much now but hopefully a new one will be built.....

 

The warm dry morning produced several hoverflies....

 

Eupeodes corollae...

 

 

Eupeodes luniger....

Helophilus pendulus...

 

and this stunning Chrysotoxum bicinctum....

 

with a large dent in it's abdomen....

 

The morning also saw several beetles.

 

Thick-legged Flower Beetles are generally a fetching emerald green, but I have come across bronze colour variations before. Below is the male with his 'thunder thighs'....

 

and this is the female, without the 'thunder thighs'....

 

There was also a few Soldier Beetles out and about, but I only grabbed one poor shot before the rain came and the beetles hid....

 

 

There seems to be an abundance of these beautifully marked Speckled Bush Crickets at the moment. This is a nymph. As they get older they lose most of their markings...

 

 

There were three species of Ladybird spotted today.

 

The common Seven-spot....

 

The tiny Fourteen-spot....

 

and lots of bad Harlequin larvae. They are so predacious that I found several eating their own kind....

 

Harlequins are not native. They actually originate in Asia but had been used as a biological control in the USA and across mainland Europe. They arrived in England only 13 years ago across the English Channel, and can now be found all over the UK. It is an invasive species and will attack and eat our native ladybirds, along with butterfly eggs and caterpillars. However, before you go out and kill all the Harlequins, remember that as larvae, pupa and adults they have adapted to some very clever mimicking colours and patterns. Always check the true id before destroying anything.

 

On the subject of predation and whilst I was sheltering from the rain, I found this tiny spider. It had woven a web across one oak leaf and had already caught a couple of flies. I haven't had confirmation of an id yet, but it was less than a centimetre long and was very green in colour....

 

 

When the rain started to get heavy, I decided to head home. Walking back up the alleyway towards Roseville Road I found my last great find of the day....a stunning huge female Stag Beetle....

 

 

She was laying across a plastic bag and I thought I had found a dead beetle for a while, but as I went to lift the bag she moved off it and headed for a gap under the fence. Bag disposed of, I headed home fairly happy with four hours insect searching on the patch.

 

National Insect Week doesn't end there for me. Tomorrow I'm at Maple Lodge NR helping out their Insect Day. Entrance is free and there will be guided walks around the reserve, some insects on display and plenty of refreshments. It starts at 11am and the last guided walk will be at 4pm. For more information and how to get there please take a look at the Maple Lodge website

 

 

 

 



Little Owls and a Honeybee swarm at Cranford Park

At 8am this morning I was just fitting my lens to the camera body, when there was a commotion in the apple tree in front of the Information Centre. Out shot a Blackbird in one direction and in the other came a Little Owl. It landed in one of the oaks and I managed a couple of photos before it disappeared higher up in the branches.

It's an adult, and according to one birder on the UK Bird Identification facebook page, it's probably a female due to its scruffy brood patch on it's front....

 

 

I walked around the rest of the oaks and located another one.

 I'm about 80% sure it is not the same bird....

 

It is another adult though, you can tell by the cream spots on it's head.

 

I was showing a couple of dog walkers my photos when one of the adult birds started alarm calling and I heard the distinctive 'hissing' sound from a juvenile.

 

However despite spending a good part of my morning hanging around the trees, I never did locate the juveniles.

 

But after their absence last year from the oaks, it really is great to see them back there.

 

I found three singing Chiffchaffs at the park today. Two were in the woods and not that visible, but the one below was by the river at the very top of a dead tree....

 

 

I had two brief sightings of Green Woodpeckers, and there was lots of 'yaffling' calls around the woods and copses. The Great Spotted Woodpeckers were a bit more hidden today but they could also often be heard. The male Kestrel was seen again flying to and from the same tree.

 

The warmer weather meant that a few butterflies were out.

A male Orange Tip....

 

 

and a female Meadow Brown...

 

Of course I did a bit of hoverating, and spotted three different species...

 

Volucella pellucens....

 

 

Helophilus pendulus...

 

and Chrysotoxum bicinctum

 

Along with the butterflies, the warmer weather had bought out some other critters.

 

Dock bug...

 

 

one of the Sicus fly species...

 

a Woundwort shield bug...

 

I think below is only a Bluebottle, but it was just so colourful....

 

and there were lots of these about in the nettles. Tentatively identifying these as a type of seed bug...

 

Also out in force today were the wonderful Scorpion Flies.

This one's a male with his bulbous tail end....

 

I was heading home when I spotted a large swarm of honeybees around the ivy on the top of the Secret Garden wall. There were thousands, and for a while I just stood back and watched them all. 15 minutes later they appeared to have settled down in to one large rugby ball shaped mass.

 

 

I have never seen this before, so was completely intrigued. I know that bees swarm when they are looking for a new nest site which is generally when a new Queen is about to be born, and the old Queen moves out.

There is a wild hive already in the stable blocks and they can be seen going in and out of the hole from the Secret Garden, but there are also proper kept hives nearby and I had seen the beekeeper early this morning. So I have no idea if this is a new swarm from the stable block hive or if the beekeeper has let one of his Queens go and she's taken thousands of worker bees with her.

 

I researched 'honeybee swarm' when I got home, and came upon this great website.....

http://www.buzzaboutbees.net/swarmingbees.html

It tells you everything you need to know about swarms, Queens, how they make honey, gardening for bees and much much more.

 

This swarm will probably be there for a couple of days. There will be 'scout bees' out already looking for a suitable nest hole.

Under that mass is one Queen bee. The Queens aren't strong fliers, hence she has probably landed in the ivy for a rest and the workers have surrounded her.

 

What a wonderful thing to witness.