Citizen science

posted in: Bees, Invertebrates, Worcestershire | 0

Well, this is exciting. To me, at any rate: I get quite fizzy whenever I’m able to add a new species to my life list, and this is one I never expected to encounter in the Shire. It’s a Four-banded … Continued

Tasty

I’ve arrived home to a mountainous backlog of administrativeĀ tasks that mostly needed dealing with several weeks ago, and this morning I vowed to spend all day at my desk, getting stuck in. Fortunately, R has known me for four and … Continued

Patchwork

posted in: Bees, Invertebrates, Worcestershire | 0

I spotted this fresh bee on the bramble growing at the edge of the Orchard Ponds in the Cleeve Prior Community Orchard, where I’d gone on a fruitless search for dragonflies, and recognised it as a male leafcutter. I couldn’t … Continued

Shooting through

Marbled Whites have been out at Cleeve Prior Community Orchard for a few days now, but today was the first time I managed to get one on camera. As with many fresh male insects they’re engaged on a near-frantic hunt … Continued

Mimic

posted in: Hoverflies, Invertebrates, Worcestershire | 0

I was walking into the clearing at Cleeve Prior Mill this afternoon, between high banks of bramble and wild flowers, when I half noticed a yellow and black bumblebee with a white tail, nectaring on cow parsley. In my defence, … Continued

Two blues

My best spot of the day today was a male Scarce Chaser, which swooped down over the Long Deep Pond at Cleeve Prior Community Orchard while I was checking it for damselflies. Sadly, he banked away and disappeared before I … Continued

Snout

And what a snout it is. Rhingia campestris is quite a small hoverfly, and thus easy to overlook, but once you’ve spotted one the only insect with which it could reasonably be confused is its close cousin, Rhingia rostrata. The … Continued