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How A Nomad Helped My Confidence

This week saw my first office day at the Wildlife Trust BCN as a Volunteer Communications Officer. Alongside writing a piece for their blog, assisting with a competition and learning more about how the communications team functions, there was a particular aspect to the day that has since become very memorable. The lunch break.

Now I didn’t have a very exciting selection of food for my lunch, but it was eaten outside in the beautifully warm spring sunshine. Brimstone butterflies (Gonepteryx rhamni) flitted through the garden, bees worked hard to collect pollen and a Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) called from a nearby tree. Being the keen naturalist that I am, I was mentally noting down the different species about – Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), Red-tailed and Early Bumblebees (Bombus lapidarius and B.pratorum), Rosemary Beetle (Chrysolina americana), 7-spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata) and so on, all of which would be put into my wildlife records notebook. Further to being a naturalist, I am a pan-species lister which means that I am extra excited if I see something new to me. And during this lunch break, I did just that.

I was watching and photographing some bees on the rosemary (NB: I need some for my garden, it is brilliant for pollinators!) when I noticed another insect nearby. With its wicked looking markings, I thought that it was probably an ichneumon wasp species (Ichneumonidae). I snapped a few photos, taking care to get it from different angles, before it wandered off into the undergrowth. I decided against potting it, I didn’t think I would be able to identify myself and figured it would be better off in the wild.

So that was my lunch break, all in all, the type of lunch break I love. Warmth, sunshine and wildlife. I didn’t think much more of it until later. I got home and downloaded the camera photos onto my laptop, whilst flicking through my insect book to find Red Mason Bee (Osmia rufa), a species that I had seen for the first time recently and needed to put a tick next to in the book. I was in the Hymenoptera section (bees, wasps, ants) and as I flicked through, I saw something vaguely familiar – a group that looked like that insect from earlier. But it wasn’t the ichneumon wasp section, it was the Nomada bees group.

After a bit of thinking, and a sip of tea, I decided I would give the identification a go. If nothing else, it would show me whether this group is ever ‘doable’ from photos alone. Immediately I felt a little overwhelmed … the Nomada bees do look pretty similar to each other! Rather than trying to focus on each species at a time, I drew up a shortlist of potential species, casting aside species that I decided against – too much yellow on the abdomen, stripes on the thorax and other such characteristics.

I ended up with a shortlist of 6 potential species, and I turned to a more detailed, and wonderful, book (Falk – Field Guide to Bees of Great Britain and Ireland) to examine each of these species in turn. I slowly read through each description, flicking back to the anatomy page when confronted with technical terms (tergites, labrum, pronatal tubercules), crossing the species off if the description didn’t match the photograph in front of me.

In the end, I was left with one, Nomada ferruginata also known as the Yellow-shouldered Nomad Bee. The technical bits in the description matched up:  the pronatal tubercules were yellow (i.e. small yellow circular lump on the thorax), there were yellow spots on the tergites 2 and 5 (i.e. the yellow spots on different sections of the abdomen) and the antennal scapes were black (i.e. the first section of the antennae, closest to the head).

Nomada ferruginata ID features

I posted my thoughts on the UK Bees, Wasps and Ants Facebook group and on Twitter, and received confirmation that my ID is correct! Having looked on the NBN gateway, I can see that it is not a new species to Cambridgeshire, but it may be a new species for Cambourne. I shall dig further and find out.

Having identified the bee as N.ferruginata, I did some reading about it. Bees in the Nomada genus are commonly referred to as Nomads or ‘homeless bees’. This particular species seems to be quite a rare bee, listed as endangered in the Red Data Book but this probably needs to be revised. It is either being identified correctly more often, or actually experiencing a population increase with more records the last couple of decades (a new species for Worcestershire in 2008). It is a cleptoparasite on another solitary bee species, Andrena praecox, although one website refers a source that suggests that A.varians might also be a host species. A.praecox also seems to be quite a rare species as apparently the females are very dependent on willow catkins.

In conclusion – what I have learnt from the Nomad ID?

  • That not all wicked-looking Hymenoptera are ichneumon wasps.
  • That it is worth taking notice of the small, quiet insects that aren’t buzzing or fluttering about.
  • That some Nomada species can be identified from photos only, but only if photos are taken from lots of angles (I could have done with more angles). However, not all of them are as there can be some slight differences that require closer examination.
  • That a good field guide can make all the difference. Whilst my general insects book (Brock) led me to the correct group, the bee book (Falk) provided the technical expertise to narrow it down to the exact species.
  • That it is worth pursuing identification and I shouldn’t give up on species identification just because it looks difficult! I.e. I should be more confident in myself and my ability to work through the process of identification.
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Raindrops on noses. And blackberries.

A busy week, as ever! Trying to recover from Birdfair, to get stuff done both at work and outside. At Lorton, I had a woodland wander as I took some children searching for beetles. Typically, we also found some other cool stuff to be fascinated by: a tiny delicate mushroom in the middle of the path, a few different types of harvestman and LOTs of slugs, snails and worms!

  • ID Tip: Both spiders (Araneae) and harvestmen (Opiliones) are arachnids (Arachnidae). To tell whether you’re looking at a spider or a harvestmen, the trick is to look at the body. A spider has distinct body parts – i.e. you can see easily that is has a thorax and an abdomen. Whereas in a harvestman, the thorax and the abdomen are fused together and it looks like it has just one body part. 

Later in the week, I went on a meadow meander to find a Wasp Spider (Argiope bruennichi). Sadly, the one that I’ve photographed a lot recently was no longer in place. I think maybe the cows wandered through and trashed its web. However, I still managed to find one, and even saw her spinning a grasshopper (I know it is a female as the male Wasp Spider is brown and smaller)! No photos or videos of that sadly as she was too quick for me! But I did get a photo of her beginning to munch on it. The meadow meander turned into a general nature walk (the best kind of walk!), as we examined grasshoppers and crickets, pried open a hatched oak gall (to unexpectedly find an earwig nymph inside!) and I found a new species for me, the Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes). [PSL: my 12th Hemiptera species]

Also on the walk, I came across this interesting Hymenoptera in a patch of clover. I think I’ve decided it is an ant species (Formicidae), but that is as far as I’ve got!

  • ID Tip: Hymenoptera are the group of insects that include bees, wasps, ants, sawflies and related insects. I knew it was a Hymenoptera because (a) it has two pairs of wings ruling out flies (not easily seen in these photos I’ll admit) and (b) it has long antennae which again ruling out flies which have much shorted antennae. I knew it wasn’t a sawfly (Symphyta)) as they do not have a distinct waist, but the one in the photograph does. After this, I am not sure of the exact ways to tell them apart, but my instinct was saying ant (Formicidae). 

Saturday evening saw a mad dash down to Lodmoor, to scout out the area behind the tip. Why you might ask? Well, a Long-tailed Blue butterfly (Lampides boeticus, apparently also known as the Peablue which is a lovely name!) had been seen there! The weather was atrocious for butterflies, and a not great for me either I might add – I got soaked! However, I still had a hopeful look around. I saw plenty of wildlife (including a couple of butterflies when the weather had a break from pouring water down on Weymouth) – but no Long-tailed Blue! Oh botheration! I consoled myself with blackberries (covered in raindrops as previously mentioned) and taking photos of the other wildlife, including SIX Wasp Spiders, a very obliging Common Blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus) and a rather wet male Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) trying to shelter from the rain.

Back at Lorton for Sunday, a rather grey and damp day, though no downpours. I had a bird-themed weekend running which meant one of my favourite activities – owl pellet analysis! I.e. lets take apart some solidified owl vomit to look at the bones of small mammals. Sounds grim, but it one of the best things to do I think. You end up finding some fantastic things and learning a lot about anatomy at the same time.

  • ID Tip: When dissecting owl pellets, one of the key bones to look out for is the skull (and lower jaws). By looking at the size, and the teeth, it is possible to identify small mammals down to species level.
    • E.g. A skull with no gap between the molars and incisors will belong to an insectivore. If the teeth are all white, it is a European Mole (Talpa europaea). If the teeth have red tips to them (yes, you read that right, red-tipped teeth) it is one of the shrew species (Soricidae). You then look at the end tooth and the number of cusps (bumps) on it, which then tells you which species it is. 
    • Hm, maybe I will write a whole blog post on owl pellet dissection and small mammal bone identification? Interested in reading such a post? Let me know! 

The end of my (working) week had a thrilling conclusion when a visitor asked me about a caterpillar they had seen. My interest was piqued, I do so love Lepidoptera and their caterpillars. I went out, armed with a caterpillars book and my camera. Turns out I didn’t need the former as I knew straight away what species it was. I have seen plenty of photos of this species on Facebook and Twitter, but never seen one as a caterpillar in the wild myself. Until today! The wonderful and beautiful Elephant Hawk-Moth (Deilephila elpenor), pink and green as an adult (PINK and GREEN!!), brown, smooth and seemingly with many eyes as a caterpillar (the eyes are to scare off predators!). Look how awesome it is!!

Heading back to the centre (my mid-afternoon snack was waiting for me after, mm chocolate cake), I yelled out “Caterpillar alert!” as I almost stepped on another caterpillar. Slightly smaller, and with many more hairs, I could tell what this one was straight away as well, the Fox Moth (Macrothylacia rubi) caterpillar!

Fox Moth (Macrothylacia rubi) caterpillar

In other news:

  • I wondered whether to write a post about the badger cull, and its extension into Dorset. But I don’t need to, because the Wildlife Trusts have written a superb news piece which covers everything (and a bit more) that I would’ve said. Please do read it, and speak to your local MP / Westminster / everyone about why the badger cull should not occur.
  • Dorset Wildlife Trust was awarded TWO bronze medals for our float at the Weymouth Carnival! Well done to Vicky who was our co-ordinator!
  • I only have a month and a half left in Dorset! Which is rather scary as there is still so many places I want to visit and things I want to do!
  • I’m recalculating my Pan-species List, as I’ve managed to get myself all confused – the online version and my notebook have different numbers. D’oh!
  • I’m doing rather well on my 2015 Wildlife Resolutions, but have got a fair bit of work ahead of me to ensure that I tick them all off!

The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent Dorset Wildlife Trust’s positions, strategies or opinions (or any other organisation or individuals for that matter).

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Nature is full of drama

What a week of drama! So much wildlife has been seen and there have been stories worthy of a TV soap opera! And oh yes, there was that general election thing as well. I’ve written about that too.

In terms of the caterpillars, they are all still alive and munching their way through large quantities of leaves. I did get quite worried about the Garden Tiger Moth caterpillars at one point as they were not moving much, or eating much. And then I found what looked like half a caterpillar! But I still had three … turns out it was the skin of one! Evidently they outgrow them and shed them. It wasn’t long before the other two went through this as well. Just after they shed it, their hairdos look particularly fresh! They are called Fluffy 1, 2 and 3, whilst the green caterpillar has been nicknamed Jade (as suggested by Jennifer Hunt).

At Lorton, we have had a couple of school groups in looking for minibeasts – pond dipping, using sweep nets in the meadow and searching under logs in the wood. An interesting beetle, caught by a little girl, caught my eye and I took it back to the centre. My line manager identified it as one of the soldier beetles, and with a bit of further investigation I do believe it is Cantharis fusca which is Nationally Scarce species. [ID was confirmed by NHM Coleoptera, I said previously that it was a Red Data Book species, but it was downgraded in 2013]. In the woods, one group found a caterpillar, so I promptly potted it up (with some leaves of course). This one is called Fusspot as he/she seems quite fussy about food.

We had a bit of a work jolly on Thursday. As part of being a volunteer at the Chesil / Lorton centres, training is provided. In this case, training took the form of a trip over to Durlston Country Park and National Nature Reserve where we had a lovely wander in the sunshine (surprisingly pleasant weather considering the wind we’d had the rest of the week!). We found yet another caterpillar – now potted up and named (Arnold – suggested by Chris Calow), as well as plenty of flowers and even my first Wall butterfly of the year!

After our wander, we were given a guided walk by one of the rangers, during which we saw some more fantastic wildlife!

Back at Lorton for the weekend, and I was anxious during Sunday morning – the eggs had been unattended all morning, with just the quickest visit from the male Kestrel. Later on, he sat on them for a good long time, though as I type at 8pm, he is absent again from the webcam. My fears were confirmed when someone found some wings and feathers in the meadow near where their box is … Kestrel wings, and according to Sean Foote, they look to belong to a female!

To cheer myself up after this tragedy, I spent an hour or so sitting by the pond after work (busman’s holiday!) looking at the insects and listening to the birds. As you can see, it is a lovely spot to relax at. I watched a damselfly nymph crawl across a lilypad, attempt to climb a vertical leaf a couple of times, before it fell into the water. I saw a bright red beetle lurking in the shade of a post, and a spider waiting for its next prey item to appear. A fellow naturalist appeared and we discussed wildlife, before he spotted a damselfly on a nearby bush – my first of the year! Just after, I spotted a dragonfly exhuvia attached to a plant near the pond – a different shape to the one I found last week, thus a different species presumably!

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Here Be Tigers And Dragons

A blustery Monday at Chesil (which is pretty much always windy by the way), and we were heading out onto the beaches to recce a butterfly survey walk. Minimal Lepidoptera seen this time, just one Small White in fact, but plenty of other wildlife about including bumblebees and Wheatears (Oenanthe oenanthe). Other notable birds seen at Chesil earlier this week have been Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) and Little Terns (Sternula albifrons).

My favourite part of the aforementioned walk was when we came across a mass of fluffy caterpillars, initially thought to be around 50 or so. I started counting … and kept counting … and still counting … there were 157 of them in a small patch of land (a couple of square metres roughly)!!! 157!!!!! Crazy numbers! And then I found a further 11 not too far away – I wonder how many are actually on Hamm / Chesil Beach? Anyway down to identification – not too difficult with this species, it is very distinctive: Garden Tiger Moth Caterpillar (Arctia caja, I found two a couple of weeks ago as well). Since I found a total of 168, and they are a relatively common species – though declining like many – I decided that it would be safe to take 3 of them to raise up. They are now living in a (large) pot with plenty of food. Naturally, I shall be keeping track of their progress and will update you as well.

A second type of caterpillar was later found at Lorton … but no clue as to what it is! Green caterpillars are rather difficult to identify, so I am also going to raise that one into an adult and shall let you know what it turns into!

I had cracking views of the local kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) one morning, it was hovering near the centre then dropped down on its prey and stood on the path for a while munching away / ripping it apart. A little grim, and unfortunate for the small mammal being eaten, by fascinating nonetheless.

I am very lucky to be paid to do what I love, which to put it shortly is talking to people about wildlife. This week had a special highlight as we had a class from local school come to Lorton to do pond dipping, which is absolutely one of my favourite activities! The underwater world is just fascinating! This session was no exception; with water boatmen, damselfly nymphs and snails galore! The highlights for me were finding the exhuvia (skin) of a dragonfly nymph (left behind when the adult dragonfly takes to the air), and two different types of water snail eggs – you can tell the difference between the species by how the eggs are laid onto the surface.

A typical conservationist, I went for a walk on the reserve after work as I had been informed that the Early Purple Orchids (Orchis mascula) had started to bloom. So I duely headed off to find them, and of course, saw plenty of wildlife along the way. The dandelions (Taraxacum) are going over now, which is great fun for blowing the seeds. I even saw a couple of Long-tailed Tits (Aegithalos caudatus), and finally managed to take some decent photos, after mixed attempts previously!

The weekend saw me adventuring to somewhere new – the lovely Worcestershire county, particularly the Malvern area. Matt was leading a dawn birdsong walk with the local WI and I tagged along, the highlights for me were: Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), Garden Warbler (Sylvia borin) and Goldcrest (Regulus regulus). Moving from birds to botanical, a visit to a nearby nature reserve meant that I could practice my wildflower ID.

Matt has spent quite a lot of time here photographing the wildlife. Below is one of a Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea), a pair of which breed under the bridge.

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Now this looks like a job for me

As the title suggests, I am no longer unemployed! However, before I get onto that good news, I would like to take a detour over to Kent where my parents and I headed out onto the river on their boat. Mind you, before even got onto the boat, I was distracted by a daisy! The sunlight was shining on it in particularly lovely way and I just had to take a couple of photographs! It was a stunning day, warm and blessed with sunshine – I could hear Chiffchaffs (Phylloscopus collybita) and Greenfinches (Carduelis chloris) on the riverbanks, and we saw plenty of waterfowl including Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) and a rather handsome Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata). There were huge swathes of blossom ladening the air with their sweet smell.

Naturally, I got a little distracted by insects – I managed to get a decent photo of a bee-fly (Bombyliidae) before we took to the water, and once on the water it seemed like the insects wanted some attention! A number of beetles landed on the boat, as did a wasp and an (as yet) unidentified creature.

Onto the job. Do you remember that I spent six months with Dorset Wildlife Trust last year before I was snapped up for a job at Radnorshire Wildlife Trust? I was a trainee, funded by the Heritage Lottery, based at their Chesil Beach Centre. Well, now they’ve taken me back as an employee for 6 months, based jointly at Chesil and Lorton Meadows. And I get to do what I love, talking about wildlife to people (and seeing wildlife at the same time of course)! What a thrilling summer it is set to be!

My first day back immediately set a high standard. Vicky and I were asked to find the Barrel Jellyfish (Rhizostoma pulmo) that had been reported on Hamm Beach – which we did. But being naturalists, we also took note of the other wildlife about! I was trying to remind myself of the specialist coastal plants about, and getting distracted by bees and butterflies!

I even found my first moths for Dorset this year – three hairy caterpillars! The first was an unknown to me initially, but using an educated guess, I went for Ruby Tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa). The other two were both immediately recognisable – Garden Tiger (Arctia caja).

Now that I’m back in Dorset, I’m afraid you’re going to be seeing a lot of stunning landscape photos. I hope you can put up with that.

The evening of my first day back saw me heading up to the Isle of Portland on my first twitch of the year, a Hoopoe (Upupa epops) had been reported at one of the quarries. Meeting up with Sean, we made our way to the area in hope. Chatting away (quietly) as we approached where it was last seen, I suddenly said “Is that it there?” Just on the path in front, maybe 20m away, a Hoopoe! These birds fly up from Africa to southern Europe, and some always overshoot and end up in the UK, but I’d never seen one before. What a fantastic bird it is! Just look at that plumage!

And on a related note – I’ve completely now ticked off another of my 2015 Wildlife Resolutions: to go one at least one twitch!

I’m not always out and about looking for wildlife, sometimes I look for wildlife in the garden too. The species below were all seen in my landlady’s garden – the Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) and Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) butterflies were my first for the year! As was the Ashy Mining Bee (Andrena cineraria), which was rather amusing as I was on the phone to Matt when I saw it, causing me to put him on hold. Fortunately he understood and was ok with that, phew!

At the weekend, I went on a busman’s holiday and visited Butterfly Conservation‘s Lankham Bottom reserve (I still can’t help giggling at that name). That was exciting too – as well as being a stunning reserve, I saw a Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) and a Red Kite (Milvus milvus)!

The highlight however came in the form of (very) small butterfly, darting about in a blur among the grass. My initial thought (whilst it was still a blur) was perhaps a day-flying moth. However, as soon as it landed, I knew what it was – a very distinctive butterfly species, the Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus malvae). My breath caught in my mouth, I almost froze in astonishment / excitement. My first new butterfly species of the year! And what a beauty it was! Much smaller than I thought it would be (it really is tiny!), and unfortunately a species whose distribution is declining. Such as treat to see it. Could I manage to get a photo? It was rather restless, but it did land every now and then. Luck (and perhaps a little bit of photography skill on my part?) was on my side and I got a few satisfactory shots. Crikey!

Wait a moment, that means that I’ve half-completed another wildlife resolution of 2015 – to see 2 new species of butterfly! And what with offers to help me see at least three more, it looks like I’ll be ticking off that resolution as completed soon!

Just before I sign off, I would like to direct you to over to the A Focus On Nature blog, where there are a series of posts being published in the run-up to the general election as members of the network discuss their Vision for Nature (also on Twitter using the hashtag: #VisionforNature). As well as pointing you in that direction because the posts make for very interesting reads, it’s also because I’m co-ordinating the publishing of these blogs (so a little bit of self-interest I won’t lie). I am partway through drafting my post, which shall be published in due course and will appear on my own blog of course.

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Wildlife amongst the April showers

What a beautiful week – warm sunshine, only a couple of showers and the occasional breeze, and plenty of wildlife to be seen. I even enjoyed watching the spiders on the bench, adventuring out from their hiding places.

Annoyingly, one does have to be inside sometimes. Even then, I may catch the glimpse of the wildlife outside. One time this week, I espied a butterfly land in the garden from my indoor location. Naturally I yelled out butterfly, grabbed my camera and rushed outside. Matt was evidently rather amused by this as I ended up being photographed by him!

A surprise awaited me back in north London, a rather shiny looking insect resting in the grass. Naturally I caught it up in one of my pots for a closer look, and found that it was still rather chilled out, so let it go again to take some photos. A friendly little insect as you can see. I later found out that it is a type of sawfly, though not sure yet as to the species. Sawflies are in the same group of insects as wasps, bees and ants – that is: hymenoptera. The third insect is a hoverfly, something I’m sure you’re familiar with. Much like moths, they come in a variety of shapes and sizes – I hope to get some photos this summer of their variety.

As ever, I wasn’t long back at home before I was volunteered to take the dog for a walk. And spring was shining in the local park too- blossoms a-blooming, butterflies a-fluttering and bees a-buzzing. The odd-looking photo of a pile of soil is actually more interesting than you might think. I do believe that it is an entrance to an insect nest – there were a few of them about, and at one point a bee (I think one of the solitary species) approached and almost went in (but the one it wanted to go into had gotten blocked!). Very intriguing!

This weekend was glorious again, Cambridgeshire is beautiful in the sunshine. A 45-minute walk around the local fields turned into a walk of around 4 1/2 hours as there were some wonderful wildlife about (as well as lambs to coo over, horses to stroke and dogs to greet). I even got my first photo of a bee-fly (Bombyliidae) – as the name suggests it is a fly that mimics a bee! Fun fact, the larvae of bee-flies are parastoids on other insects’ eggs and larvae. Isn’t nature charming?

The most exciting sighting of this week came at the very end of this walk, casually strolling alongside a small stream in the sunshine whilst keeping my eye out for insects as usual. I saw a small ripple on the edge of the stream, and a stray thought was “hmm, ducklings?” followed by “maybe a bit too early for ducklings …” On noticing a bridge not too far ahead, we headed onto it and looked back along the water. We waited a little while, patience is a virtue after all and necessary when it comes to wildlife. A small brown nose appeared, then a head, a moment later a chocolate-brown mammalian body swum through the water. A Water Vole (Arvicola amphibius)?! It’s identification was confirmed by Matt. What a joy! I hadn’t even thought to include seeing one on my wildlife resolutions of 2015, I thought they would be too shy to spot one.

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Catching Up pt 3

As this blog catches up with the present day, I can reveal even more exciting wildlife sightings. Over at my local park, I spotted my first Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus) in months – whilst my dad recently saw a Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) there. Spring is started to appear, as buds begin to burst forth and the scent of blossom from unfurling flowers is carried on that still slightly chilly breeze.

I spotted my first non-bumblebee bee (as yet unidentified, I’m not much good [yet] if it isn’t a bumblebee!) of 2015 in the park, feeding on this yellow flower (as yet unidentified, it’s in the list of plants to ID) in the sunlight – wilfully ignoring both myself taking photos and a number of dogs running about and barking (a good game was going on at the time you see).

I have also checked back on the fungi that I saw growing previously – you can see how much it has dried out!

A quick trip down to Dorset saw me getting a number of new year ticks – Blackcap (see below), Brent Goose, Oystercatcher and more, as well as a few lifers!

A tip-off from Glen at the Portland Bird Observatory led to myself and Sean having a wander through the lovely Broadcroft Quarry (do you remember my fantastic visit last year?) in search of the Widow Iris aka the Snake’s Head Iris (Iris tuberosa). As well as being a lovely plant to look at, it was also rather fascinating to watch the bees as they landed on the flower and crawled deep into the funnel to feed. You can see in the second (slightly blurry) photo, that they get rather covered in pollen!

As mentioned, I saw my first Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) of the year at Portland Bird Observatory. What a stunning bird it is! It’s a male – you can tell because his cap is black whereas the female’s cap is red-brown in colour.

A very exciting lifer for me was seeing a Firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus) – again from the terrace at PBO! It was not long before I needed to head off when Glen pointed it out. And not just one, but two! Fantastic! I’d heard Firecrest before, and seen their close relative the Goldcrest (Regulus regulus), but had never actually seen one so I was ecstatic!

On a short visit to Cambridgeshire, I kept an eye on the garden whilst baking (scones btw, they were delicious!). After having seen my first Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus) in months only a few days previously, I was very pleasantly surprised to see another one so soon! More so because after a few attempts, I managed to get a decent photo of it despite (1) being at a distance, (2) taking the photo through a window, and (3) having obstacles in the way!

Not long after, I enjoyed viewing a female Blackbird (Turdus merula) atop the hedge. She was all fluffed up and evidently sunning herself – I don’t blame her! As the sun started to fade, there was an odd-looking bird in the garden. It was a Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus), but it seemed to have a deformity – a huge lump on the back of its neck – and possibly a bald head? It was hard to tell in the light, and the photo doesn’t help much. Has anyone else seen anything like this in Blue Tits? It didn’t seem to be too effected by its misfortune – it was feeding fine.

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Catching Up pt 2

Spring truly began for me on the w/c 23rd February. Twice during the week, I saw a bumblebee, though both times it was just a quick flyby. However, on 1st March (when attending the GMS conference), I photographed my first bumblebee of the year! There was much excitement as Matt and I racked our brains, I definitely recognised the species but couldn’t quite remember the name – it had, after all, been quite a few months since I had last attempted to identify a bumblebee! With a vague inkling in mind, I searched through one of the books on sale at the conference and triumphantly pronounced that it was a Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum). This isn’t actually an original native species to the UK, and was first seen here only in 2001 but has rapidly spread since. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust provides a link to an article written by Clive Hill with more information.

As well as the excitement from photographing my first bumblebee of the year, I was enthralled by her behaviour. I believe she must have literally just emerged from hibernation, as she was sitting very still in the sunlight for a good 10-15 minutes – bumblebees need to warm themselves up after emerging.

My next destination was up in Cambridgeshire where I headed to Fen Drayton Lakes. Before I even got there, I was thrilled – as Matt pointed out my first Brimstone butterfly on a roadside verge (whilst I was driving unfortunately so no photo) – a good sign of spring for sure! At the reserve itself, there was another Brimstone that fluttered away annoyingly quickly, Great Crested Grebes performing their courtship dance (too far away for a decent photo) and lovely small birds all over the place – including my first Bullfinches for a number of months and some Long-tailed Tits (always lovely birds to see). Record shots for both I’m afraid.

Now, a focus on Lepidoptera (as usual) – a wonderful group as I’m sure you’ll agree. In London, I received a call to rescue an animal in distress … admittedly it was from just outside my parents’ house, and by my mum. Nonetheless, my inner superhero burst out and I rushed to the rescue! It was a butterfly, a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) to be precise, resting in the road very close to one of the wheels of my mum’s car. I dashed forward and scooped it up, it needed safety! With a quick glance around to check the scene, I decided that our garden was probably the best spot for it and proceeded to gently release it into its new home. Phew, a good job well done!

But wait! Not all was well! The butterfly seemed to be struggling … what was wrong with it?! A closer inspection was needed and I peered closely, it seemed – oddly – that the very end part of its hind wings were stuck together! I knew I hadn’t touched those parts of the butterfly, so I am still wondering how it happened. Anyway, gently and with great care, I managed to separate the hind wings, hopefully with minimal damage. The butterfly definitely seemed happier (although, do butterflies feel happiness / emotions in general?), albeit that it was in bad condition from its hibernation.

Moth-trapping has of course been continuing in the garden. I’ve not caught a huge variety of species yet, or even large numbers of moths, but it is still better than when we were in the grip of winter! For the most part, they’re LBJs (little brown jobs) but actually, if you look closely you can see that even these LBJs have some intricate patterning! The last photo is of a leaf mine in a bramble plant over in the local park. You can see that one end of the mine is very thin, this is where the caterpillar hatched out of its egg and started munching. The mine gradually gets bigger and bigger, matching the caterpillar’s growth as it wanders around the inside of the leaf. This mine is caused by one of the micro-moths, likely to be Stigmella aurella I think.

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Wonderful Wildlife of 2014

We approach the end of the almighty year that was 2014. Whilst 2013 could be called “The Year of South African Wildlife” (albeit there were only four months there, but you know what I mean), 2014 was definitely a year of British wildlife for me.

Lepidoptera

The start of the year saw me quite interested in butterflies and moths, I knew perhaps a couple of species. As I write, I do believe it would be correct to call me obsessed with this wonderful group. I’ll start with the smaller group first, that which is familiar to more people – the butterflies. Out of 59 species, I’ve seen at least 31 – not bad for a beginner who could only just identify the most well-known species at the beginning of the year! I’ve gone on butterfly group walks, set out to see a specific species (Lulworth Skipper – a success btw), and submitted my sightings like a good citizen scientist. Below are a selection of my favourite photos from this year:

And now onto my favourites, the moths! (Though really, butterflies are basically just a group of moths, but that’s for another time). I’m not even sure how many species I’ve seen – a sign I think that I need to get better at recording in 2015! One thing’s for sure though, I’ve seen quite a few, more than I knew existed just a few years ago! I’ve seen tiny moths only a few millimetres long and incredibly large moths that look like birds. I’ve seen a variety of life cycles, I’ve seen day-flying ones, caught ones at night, seen common species, very rare species and many in between!

I’m not sure what my highlights would be, there are so many possibilities!

  • Spotting a Six-belted Clearwing before my keen-eyed fellow Lepidoptera enthusiast
  • Catching 61 December Moths in one night (in one trap!) – when I was only expecting a couple of moths at most
  • Finding the larvae of a micro-moth in its one known location in the British Isles
  • Seeing my first Hummingbird Hawk-Moth on my first day at Gilfach Reserve
  • Catching 5 Merveille Du Jour in only 3 nights of trapping
  • My interest in moths influencing friends and family
  • Finding clothing with a moth design on (naturally I bought them all!)
  • Generally improving my ID skills to the point that I know a number of species without having to look at a guide!

 

Birds

It would be acceptable to say that at the beginning of 2014, I knew how to identify pretty much just your basic garden birds and a couple of other species. I’d heard of a variety of species, but hadn’t pursued learning how to identify them, or ticking them off. That all changed when I arrived at the Chesil Beach Centre in Dorset – with large flocks of birds right in front of me, and a Bird Observatory practically just up the road, it was time to acquire some birding knowledge.

Again, it’s hard to pick highlights, and even when I’m thinking of the possibilities, most of them don’t have accompanying photographs!

Other Beasties

Due to my naivety, I haven’t actually kept a proper list of which other species I’ve seen this year, which is rather silly and a lesson I shall learn from for 2015! As it is, I do know that I saw a number of rather lovely and/or interesting creatures during 2014. I shan’t list them all, but you can see them below.

What of botany?

Suffice to say that my botanical knowledge does need improvement, but then again, it is better than your average layman, and decent for a beginner!

All in all, it’s been a pretty awesome year for me seeing and learning about wildlife – thank you to everyone who has been fantastic in helping me, I can’t even begin to list you all, but you know who you are.

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Adventures and Learning

I’m writing yet another blog post whilst tired and in recovery from a fantastic few days. Seems to be the way of life for me at the moment, but I’m not complaining!

The week began with office work, which I might have previously thought to be a bit boring. However, I’m working on some exciting projects so the office work is actually enjoyable, especially as I know that the projects will have good end results (fingers crossed!). Additionally I was still buzzing from the AFON conference the week before (hugely inspirational and amazing and such!).

It wasn’t all office work mind, I was instructed to go explore some of RWT‘s nature reserves aside from Gilfach. So I took myself off to Llanbwchllyn Lake, where I had an enjoyable time admiring the lake and the wildlife. I saw one of my favourite birds, the Great Crested Grebe, which is a species that I’ve not seen in ages so I was rather happy.

I also took the time to really appreciate nature, sitting and closing my eyes, listening to the sounds around me – the rustling leaves, the babbling of a bird, the buzzing of the insects. It was nice to take a step back from my usual stance of taking photos of everything and trying to identify everything, and just appreciate it being there. I did also my eyes again to take photos (but without trying to identify the animals).

The reason I’m so tired is that I’ve just got back from a three day ecology course on Animal Diversity, held at the lovely Denmark Farm Conservation Centre. Wow, what a course! My head is absolutely full of fascinating information and interesting facts – sea urchins have a funky anatomical feature called ‘Aristotle’s Lantern’, over 95% of all animals are invertebrates, and platypus (platypi plural?) are really rather odd!

I’d like to take this opportunity to say just how awesome these ecology courses are – they’re provided by the Lifelong Learning department of Aberystwyth University, and they are such fantastic value (£80 early bird for a 10 credit module)! I have done a number of modules now, and I am working towards getting my Certificate in Field Ecology, which is rather exciting. However, the modules can just be taken separately, and even just for fun! Because I love them so much, I have now become a Student Rep for the Ecology courses, so looking forward to getting even more involved with them!

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