Honeybee swarm and more at Cranford Park

Primarily I was at Cranford Park today to do my regular UKBMS transect and the warm weather rewarded me with a total of 31 butterflies of seven different species

 

Brimstone x 2

Small White x 1

Orange Tip x 6

Holly Blue x 1

Peacock x 8

Comma x 5

Speckled Wood x 8

 

Most of the Speckled Woods were relay fresh indicating they had only recently emerged

 

 

but the individual below looks to have been a victim of a bird attack and was missing part of its lower wing

 

The Small White I saw today (below) was a solitary female and my first of the year

 

 

My first Holly Blue of the year was this male

 

Female Holly Blues have a much broader black band on their upper wing

 

Comma

But the most prolific were the Peacocks

These large butterflies are very common at this time of the year and often very approachable as they bask in the spring sun

 

 

 

Peacock underwing

Wherever there was a patch of bare soil there were several Bee-flies

 

 

The one above is the Dark-edged Bee-fly

 

The mild warm weather today meant there were quite a few hoverflies to be seen but all of the ones I managed to photograph today were of the Syrphus species and they were all male (the males eyes meet in the middle - females have a gap between their eyes)

 

syrphus sp male

syrphus sp male

syrphus sp male

The second reason I was at the park was because one of the regular dog walkers had reported a 'wasps nest' on one of the sign posts by the childrens playground - I was suspicious that it was actually a honeybee swarm and was glad to see I was right

 

I straight away phoned Alan and Betty (the local bee keepers) and within a few hours they had arrived at the park

 

 

At the same time as they arrived the swarm took off but I managed to follow it as it settled into a nearby shrub by the ha ha wall

 

 

It didn't take Alan long to knock the swam containing the Queen in to one of his boxes that was already laced with food

 

Any remaining 'scouts' soon followed the scent of the Queen and made their way in to the box

 

And I got a nice jar of honey for my trouble :)