9 Aug 20

 Wakeham

I was up fairly early this morning and it was pretty evident, as I made my way down the back garden, that the invertebrates had been up a lot earlier than me. It's almost as if they had a 6th sense, that today was going to be another scorcher and that the best time for them to be out was first thing this morning, when the temperature was a relatively cool 20.0°C.

The flower beds were alive with bees, hoverflies, a few micro moths and a couple of 22-Spot Ladybirds. Whilst passing through the back gardens was a Willow Warbler, no doubt fattening up on the hoards of insects for its southward journey.

By the afternoon the temperature had soared up to the high 20's and though the number of hoverflies dropped off, the Honey Bees just kept coming and by late afternoon there were a good 40 on the Lavender.

Also seen in the afternoon were a Dragonfly and Damselfly, neither unfortunately were identifiable. A Chalk Hill Blue spent the whole afternoon on the Lavender

Note: Blogger.com have completely changed the way you add your images and accompanying text. So the layout below is apparently the way ahead.

Here are a few images from today:














Mid afternoon and this scruffy Common Buzzard passed overhead, with several Herring Gulls helping it on its way.













This Chalk Hill Blue spent the whole afternoon flitting between the Lavender flowers.













Here it is disturbed by one of the many Honey Bees collecting pollen. This happened many times during the afternoon.

   Here the Chalk Hill Blue is moved on again.















A White-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lucorum).













And another White-tailed Bumblebee. In total there were 4 on the Lavender and a couple more in the vegetable patch












An odd looking bee, in that if it were a male Red-tailed Bumblebee, then the head would be yellow not white. Or has the yellow just faded. If in fact that occurs.












And another Bumblebee, very similar to the one above, with a pale yellow head, so I guess these are both male Red-tailed Bumblebees (Bombus lapidarius).












One of the many Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) and unusually not on the Lavender, but in one of the gladioli or should that be gladioluses.












A Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax) of which there were at least 5 of these hoverflies "buzzing" around the garden in an attempt to find the sunniest spots.












I haven't seen this hoverfly for quite a few months, but this morning I must have counted at least 7 of these Vagrant Hoverflies  (Eupeodes corollae)














Here is another one of the Vagrants on the Valerian.













A little easier to ID was this Pied Hoverfly (Scaeva pyrastri). Just the one seen.













And another fairly easy hoverfly to ID was this (as the name suggests) male Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta)












And finally a fairly common and especially numerous hoverfly seen this year was this Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus), with several in the garden this morning.













One of the many micro moths flying around the garden this morning.














Of all the micros seen, this was the only one I caught........














.........but I will be honest I haven't a clue what it is.













Not the first 22-spot Ladybird (Psyllobora 22-punctata) I have seen but........










............the first I have come across in the garden. In fact their were 5 in total and all on the leaves of one of the Courgettes. There are 2 forms of this ladybird. The first has a white pronotum and the other like these two have yellow pronotum's. Diagram Here.














And a mystery Grasshopper........














............which I cant find in any book or online.













An interesting fly, where its thorax in the daylight was a fluorescent green, sadly not picked up by the camera. Oh and one to ID later.













And of course Ted, who on seeing the fence is down is wondering whether to break for freedom.


Birds Recorded: Buzzard, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Sand Martin, House Martin, Swallow, Blackbird, Willow Warbler, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet and Goldfinch

Dragonflies and Damselflies Recorded: Dragonfly sp. and Damselfly sp.

Butterflies Recorded: Large White, Small White, Gatekeeper, Red Admiral and a Chalk Hill Blue

Moths Recorded: moth sp.

Bees Recorded: Honey Bees (Apis mellifera), Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum), Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) and White-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lucorum)

Wasps Recorded: Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

Hoverflies Recorded: Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus), Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta), Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax) Migrant Hoverfly (Meliscaeva auricollis) and Pied Hoverfly (Scaeva pyrastri)

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded: Fly sp.

Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded: Grasshopper sp.

Bugs and Beetles Recorded: Five 22-spot Ladybird (Psyllobora 22-punctata)

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

2018
Today's Sightings Here.

2017
Today' Sightings Here.