Paxton's Bees etc

Yesterday was the warmest of the year so far with temperatures around 17 degrees at Paxton Pits and the bees and other insects were on the move. Here a selection - not sure all the IDs on the final sheet are correct - still checking!!

Toft's Bees and Other Wildlife Wake Up

 The warm conditions yesterday brought a lot of species out of their winter dormancy and onto the foliage. Favourites definitely the small Weevil, Box Bug, Bee Fly, and the unusual-looking parasitic fly, Gonia picea. I recently received the new Flies book by Stephen Falk and others so looked it up. The Dark broadface visits flowers including Daisy, is parasitic on moths including Square-spot Rustic which we definitely have in the garden and is one of the first Tachinid to appear in spring. Bees more difficult to ID!

Cambridge Botanic Gardens 2

 A few more images from our visit to the Gardens on Saturday including my first Bees of the year busy collecting from Winter Honeysuckle which is in full bloom. In the wooded areas some very impressive thorns and the plasmodium of a slime mould showing how wet it had been prior to our visit.

Wet Insects at RSPB Sandy

We hoped for a fine sunny day to photograph solitary bees, dragonflies and butterflies in RSPB Sandy's grounds but had light rain most of the day. However, we found plenty of interesting subjects  covered with rain droplets, including this Common Wasp, Hairy Shieldbug and Green-eyed Flowerbee sleeping attached to a twig by its mandible.

Life on Comfrey and Alkanet

The Alkanet and White Comfrey are in full bloom in the garden and provide home and food to a very large variety of species. Here are a few. The Rhingia rostrata has very impressive mouthparts for slurping up nectar!