New Year

Well it's long past New Year and high time there was a blog entry with so much going on out there.  There have been a couple of important sightings recently with the Lovejoys seeing a Merlin earlier in the year, and a friend who lives in Winchelsea Beach having good long views of a wryneck.  Sadly no photos of either bird, but it's good to know that they are around.

Things are buzzing in the garden now that spring is well under way.  I have seen a variety of bumblebee queens mostly feeding up on the Pieris bush - Buff-tailed, White-tailed, Red-tailed and Tree bumblebees all much in evidence as well as a sighting of a cuckoo bumblebee - Bombus vestalis.  This beautiful red-tailed queen is already collecting pollen, so she must have a brood nearby to look after.  I'm hoping that they are nesting under the shed as I have seen the queen going in once.  I will only be certain once the workers start coming and going.

Red-tailed Bumblebee - Bombus lapidarius

I have also seen a very tiny Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) worker feeding on the comfrey, but she flew off before I got a shot.  It was one of the smallest bumblebees I've ever seen.  Also buzzing in the garden are a number of solitary bees - the ones I can identify being Tawny mining bees and this Red Mason bee (Osmia bicornis) which was one of several showing interest in the bamboo tubes of our bug hotel.  Note the bright orange hairs on the abdomen and legs.

Red Mason Bee

Some early hoverflies are out and about as well.  So far I've not got my stalking skills honed this year, so I have missed several species already, but this Eristalis pertinax posed nicely.  I think it's an unwritten law of photography that only common species hang around long enough to get photographed.

Eristalis pertinax

One thing that I try and do as a gardener (or should I say wannabe gardener?) is to provide plenty of pollinating plants such as comfrey, lavender, and globe thistles.  Sometimes, things pop up that weren't there the year before and these Common Field-speedwell have put on a tremendous display on the back lawn.

Common Field-speedwell - Veronica persica

Sometimes, however, you put in plants that are not for the benefit of the pollinators, but for your own benefit.  These exotic looking flowers were not planted for their stunning flowers, but hopefully they will attract pollinators so that we get a good crop of broad beans.