1 Jun 24

Wakeham

It was yet another beautiful warm sunny day, and best of all it wasn't as windy as it has been over the past few days. Today was a lazy day in the back garden having a poke around to see what wildlife there was.

It was good to see that there were at least three Palmate Newts in the "Tractor Tyre" pond and a Frog under the corrugated sheet.

Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Magpie
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch

Amphibians Recorded:
Frog
Palmate Newt

A Common Frog under the corrugated sheet and..........

..........what would have been a close-up of it, had Ted not photobombed my shot.

Dragonflies and Damselflies Recorded:
1 Azure Damselfly

A male Azure Damselfly on the reeds in the "Bath" pond.

Butterflies Recorded:
None


Bees Recorded:
Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum)
bee sp.

A worker Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) visiting an Aquilegia sp. More on aquilegia here. Thank you to Ed Wilson, as I had this down as a male Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)

A very tiny bee. Possibly one of the Plasterer Bees (Hylaeus sp.). More on this species here.

Hoverflies Recorded:
Barred Anthill Hoverfly (Xanthogramma citrofasciatum)

A Barred Anthill Hoverfly (Xanthogramma citrofasciatum)

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

Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)
Broad Centurian (Chloromyia formosa)
Long-legged Fly (Dolichopus sp.)

A Greenbottle sp.

A female Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)

A Broad Centurian (Chloromyia formosa)

Well these aren't Semaphore Flies (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus), which I normally find on both ponds, but another slightly larger species of Long-legged Fly (Dolichopus sp.)

Bugs and Beetles Recorded:

Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)
miridae (Closterotomus trivialis)
#1 - miridae sp.
#2 - miridae sp.

A male Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis) on a Common Daisy (Bellis perennis)

And this is a female Swollen-thighed Beetle on one of the climbing roses.

miridae (Closterotomus trivialis) - male

miridae (Closterotomus trivialis) - female

And another female miridae (Closterotomus trivialis). More on this miridae here.

Slugs and Snails Recorded:
50+ Garden Snail (Cornu aspersa)

I don't think I've ever seen so many Garden Snails (Cornu aspersa) in the garden before. These two, plus several others were in the Ice Plant (Hylotelephium spectabile)

General Shots:

The "Bath" pond

And the "Tractor Tyre" pond

Ted:

Ted wondering where the next Frog is going to appear!!