No birds, partly because a dull cold mid-day trip is not the best for singing Nightingales. Much more success with the bees mainly on a line of what I think is Houndstongue.
There were Early Bumblebees - I see them everywhere now of course - Common Carder Bees, Tree Bumblebee and a white-tailed/buff-tailed bee. And then there were what I think are cuckoo bees. Slightly larger, a bit more relaxed and plodding in behaviour as befits a bee that is letting other bees do the work, and some details that are beginning to become familiar.
First up was this.
I think this is a female Vestal Cuckoo Bee (Bombus Vestalis). My guide book (Falk and Lewington) says "Females ... when fresh have a ginger rather than yellow collar and the yellow patches at the side of the tail are sulphur yellow.". The picture below shows a sulphurish patch.
Then another one I think is male Forest Cuckoo Bee (Bombus Sylvestris). It seems to have a break between the white bands on the abdomen and the gingerish tail, and looking at the chart from the NHM it matches this best. If you look at the photo below there are four colours - yellow, black, white, ginger, hence matching another name for Sylvestris - Four colour cuckoo bee.
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| Shows the hard shiny exoskeleton which is indicative of cuckoo bee. |
Finally a third candidate cuckoo bee. I'm confused here as it has the same ginger collar as the first bee but my book says "there is never any hint of a midriff band" and you can just see one here. so maybe its a male, but it has a ginger collar and only females have a ginger collar.
I will post in an ID site and see if I get guidance from people who know their bees, so watch this space!
And finally a day-flying moth. Looking at the illustrations in Waring and Townsend this would seem to be a Pretty Chalk Carpet Moth. Habitat: woodland. Status: common.
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