5 Apr 20

Wakeham

No new birds today for my lock-down garden list and I still haven't seen a Swallow or House Martin yet. At this rate I reckon I'll see a Swift before I see any hirundines..

Today I had a new bee to add to my garden list, a Grey Mining Bee along with the Yellow-legged Mining Bees, Buff-tailed Bumblebees, Honey Bees and an Andrena sp. which were all present today.

The Common Green Shieldbug on the Valerian has a companion.

As I was heading back indoors an Ichneumon stramentor, Ichneumon Wasp landed on the Ivy in the courtyard and I also came across what I believe is a Solitary Wasp possibly Sapyga quinquepunctata

Birds of note today were a pair Greenfinches, with the male wheezing from on top of one of the Sycamores.

Here are a few images and videos from today:

A Honey Bee fully laden with pollen.

Yesterday I had a Grey Mining Bee at the top of Penns Wood and today I had two in the garden.

The past week has seen a marked rise in the number of..............

.................Yellow-legged Mining Bees.

There must have been around 30 along the borders and lawn.

Here are two more Yellow-legged Mining Bees and a Syrphus sp. Hoverfly

This is the mystery Andrena.

A Buff-tailed Bumblebee

If I've ID'd this correctly this is..............

.....................the Ichneumon Wasp Diphyus palliatorius

There are a quite a few black and yellow Ichneumon Wasps in the UK................

.............which do look very similar. Turns out it is an Ichneumon stramentor and another new species for my Portland List.

My mystery Ichneumon Wasp

I'm hoping that someone on one of my.................

........................UK Bees, Wasps and Ants social media group can help ID it. Personally I think it is the Solitary Wasp Sapyga quinquepunctata. I will try and find out.

This is the Common Green Shieldbug which has been on the Valerian all week. It has an identifiable brown spot on the wing casing where it should be completely green

And this is the new arrival with completely green wing casings. I wonder if they will meet up.

And a video just show how close the Shieldbugs are to each other.

A lot larger than the Sun-jumping spiders in the garden..........

.............this one was resting on a rock and was then...........

...........joined by a slightly darker individual. Not sure what they are yet!!

Not a lot of movement between these two. Lots more going on around me though with a Buff-tailed Bumblebee buzzing over my head, followed by a Blue Tit calling and the Goldfinches.

And Ted. Something has got his attention and if you look closely, you can just about make out next doors cat "Bailey" top centre.

Bees Recorded: Honey Bee (Apis mellifera), Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), Grey Mining Bee (Andrena cineraria) and an Andrena sp.

 Wasps Recorded: Possibly a Sapyga quinquepunctata

 Ichneumon Wasps Recorded: Ichneumon stramentor 

 Hoverflies Recorded: Syrphus sp.

 Bugs and Beetles Recorded: 2 Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina)

 Spiders Recorded: 3 Sun-jumpers Spiders and 2 Spiders sp.

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On this day..........
2019
Today's Sightings Here.

2018
Today's Sightings Here.