They're back

I know I promised an end to rubbish photos, but .... look closely and you can see two Hawfinches.

Hatfield Forest is a traditional Hawfinch site, particularly round the Hornbeams near Bush End car park. But the early years of this century had only a few records and it wasn't until the great eruption a couple of years ago we had decent numbers. Last year there were a few in mid winter, so with numbers having been seen flying over local areas this autumn, it was time to go looking.

I'd had very little apart from 40 Siskins by the lake and 60 Redwings flying round when I saw a larger passerine slipping away over trees, and just glimpsed a long white wing bar. Not enough to tick, damn! I gave it a bit longer, and picked up one, then three flying into the tops of trees.

We know how this goes, having seen enough a couple of winters ago. They go into the tree tops then drop down slowly to the floor below, as presumably these did. I didn't go in to avoid any disturbance, and had no further views.

I've no idea how many there are. I could have seen them all in this viewing, there could be lots more scattered round. No matter, its great to have them back.

In search of dragons

A couple of local trips: Firstly to Canvey Island, where we spent time in a ditch. You know the one.

Male Blue-Eyed Hawkers (normally Southern Migrant Hawkers, but I like the new name) were regularly spaced. Mainly in flight, but one did perch up. This is heavily cropped etc etc but those eyes ...

Lots of Scarce Emeralds. Mainly deep in the ditch vegetation but one kindly flew up to be photographed.

Then onto Hatfield Forest in each of Emperors. I was too late in the day, but a few compensations. Our local White-legged Damselfly population still going. The width of those eyes makes it look like a mini hammer-head shark. 

black legs ... going for Ruddy Darter here.

Hatfield Forest insects

Took the camera for a walk in Hatfield Forest. Here we go ...

Bees generally seem to have been scarce this year, but in the Forest there were a few clusters mainly on Houndstooth. ID of bees not my strong point, but I see no reason to go beyond the obvious - Vestal Cuckoo Bee here.

Mating Common Blues

Female Black Tailed Skimmer, and although I tried to turn it onto something else, Azure Damselfly.

Finally, Scorpion Fly

Here comes summer - and bees -

Insects are beginning to appear, so an increasingly significant part of my wild-life interest is kicking into gear.

Posts will become a bit different from now over the summer I expect. Most wildlife blogs have pictures of wildlife that the author has confidently identified. I have no idea what I'm photographing in many cases, so I will be posting photos and then trying to identify them as time goes by.

Here's a few from Wall Wood, Hatfield Forest today.

This thing is tiny. Less than a centimetre. I think its a species of mini mining bee. Looks very dapper, and with reddish body and those legs should be easy. Suggestions gratefully received.

here it is on a primula/oxlip for size with more detail,.

on surer ground here. Dark-edged Bee Fly.

In Search of His Majesty

Purple Emperors are doing well all over, and our local stronghold Hatfield Forest has had up to 9 seen there. I've been there on a few occasions to see them and so far ... nothing.

It may be that I've been there mid morning and its been too hot, or it may be that I'm just not very good at finding butterflies that fly round the top of tall trees.

I met a helpful chap who told me where to find them in an Oak along the main plain, and that there are White-Letter Hairstreaks in Elms along the edge of the plain. Needless to say I didn't see them either.

Despite this, I'm quite enjoying the cool of some of the rides, and there are tens, possibly hundreds of Silver Washed Fritillaries. Here's a few photos of some other insects.

female SWF. Noticeably smaller than the males.

Purple Hairstreak - common round oaks. This was the closest I could get.

 Ringlet, Meadow Brown, a few Marbled Whites and various other whites and skippers.

There were a few dragonflies too. Brown Hawkers and the usual small blue damselfly things, and these.

Southern Hawker in one of the more shaded rides 

a skimmer? not near water so a bit confused on this one.

I refound the colony of White-Legged Damselflies pretty much in the same place I last had them. Noticeably paler, seemingly slightly slower in flight and a tad longer than the more common damselflies.

Hatfield Forest - Wall wood

A walk round Wall Wood just off the South-West corner of Hatfield Forest today. It is managed by the National Trust and has been recently fenced off (with gates for access) to keep deer out. I neglected it over the winter mainly because the Hawfinches were in another part of the wood, but thought it worth a trip to see if keeping the deer out had enabled the Early Purple Orchids to reappear.

And they were back. One area had 63 spikes (in the SE corner) and there were a few spikes elsewhere in the Southern half. A clear vindication of the NT's policy of keeping deer out. all we need now is Nightingales.

Otherwise there were a few insects, including some busy bumble bees, one of which passed briefly to enable this photo which despite the quality shows the main features:

I did wonder whether this was a Buff-tailed queen that had lost its fur from its middle, but the yellow edge to the lower white gives away that this is a cuckoo bee, and I'm reasonable sure it is a Vestal Cuckoo Bee Bombus Vestalis which last year for a while was the commonest bee on my patch. I saw a few later in the day round Pishiobury Park, and one of the most distinctive features is a notch or gap in the centre of the white tail. So if you see a queen which is all black apart from a ginger collar and white tail with a notch in it then I think it is this species.

Also was a gathering of small bees, too few and sparse to be properly called a swarm. There were bees of several sizes, so I had a go with the macro lens and got these.

I think I'm on reasonably safe ground saying these are Nomad Bees. After that, it is a but more difficult. The top one looks like a Long-Horned Nomad Beetle due to the extent and positioning of the red but my guide book says it is scarce so probably not one of these. A Flavous or Painted Nomad Bee may be more likely and the second may be one of these. In truth I have no idea. Anyway, this is another class of creepy-crawlies to have some camera fun with over the summer.

UPDATE: Twitter came to the rescue on Nomad Bees with Jono Forgham suggesting Fork-Jawed Nomad Bee. This would seem to fit with the second photo which would be the smaller male, and the comment in my guide book that it is "common throughout much of southern England". Steven Falk very kindly also gave some other possibles such as Painted or Flavous as apparently the appearance is variable and really you need a specimen. If I photograph more of these creatures I will just suggest possible IDs as I am not up to capturing and dissecting them.

Steven kindly responded to a tweet message, which gives me an opportunity to plug his book "Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland" which is a wonderful book. At this time of year I am browsing through it or reading in detail almost every day. Highly recommended

July photos

A couple of trips. Firstly Rainham Marsh RSPB. Marsh Harrier and Bearded Tits notwithstanding, it was all about the insects. There were masses of workers on the Lavender in the car park and I think these were Brown-Banded Carder Bees, mainly because at least one of them was a carder bee with a brown band. Difficult to photograph in a suitable pose, I am nevertheless quite pleased with the art in these photos.

Then a few Shrill Carder Bees, an Emerald Damselfly in the Cordite area that I am told is a Willow Emerald, and some more common stuff - the Hornet Mimic Volucella Zonaria which I now see more often than I see Hornet.

Shrill Carder Bee worker

Willow Emerald

Then with David today to Stansted Airport Lagoons for waders followed by another trip to Hatfield Forest to see Purple Emperors. Needless to say this did not go as planned. There was a lone Lapwing at a very full lagoons, but there were up to ten damselflies on algae pads on one of the lagoons. David was sure these were Small Red-eyed Damselflies and having looked at photos the step on the end of the abdomen does match the photos and is quite distinctively different from Red-Eyed. A flicker in the foliage turned out to be another Willow Emerald.  We left the lagoons quite happy with our haul and went to the Forest. We walked round the NW corner of Hatfield Forest finding little new in the way of Butterflies, and no sign of the Emperors but did see plenty of Ringlets and Gatekeepers sunning themselves. We paused from looking down long enough to see a Raven fly over which is a good record for the forest.

Willow emerald

Gatekeeper sunning itself

Finally a reminder that wildlife is exploding all over. David's eagle eyes spotted a freshly emerged Six-Spotted Burnet Moth. Quite fantastic it is too, with its damp wings still creased.

Bee IDs

I've been taking lots of photos of Bumble Bees recently. Here's a few that have me stumped, and one firstly that I'm reasonably happy about.

1. I think this is male Vestal Cuckoo Bee (Bombus Vestalis) due to the yellow on the edge of the white tail and the faint yellow midriff band. On the brambles near my house this seems to be the commonest bumble bee. Odd that a parasite should outnumber the host, but there we are.

2. Again on brambles in a local wood. Two shots of a completely smooth bee apart from a yellow frill. I think this is just a completely hairless worker bee of a common species, but only because I cannot find an alternative explanation.

3. And two more from the same area. Again, I think this may be a bumble bee with hair loss, but it may not be a bumble bee at all. I have no idea.

 4. This was taken at Thursley Common in Surrey. A dark bee with a greyish white tail. On close inspection it has a faint collar and midriff so I suspect it is just a variant of a common bumble bee. There were at least two like this.

5. From a recent visit to Hatfield Forest. It looks like a common bee except for the profuse yellow on the head. I thought at first it might be Early Bumble bee but on looking in my book Barbut's Cuckoo bee also has lots of yellow on the head. So I'm confused, again.

6. And finally another from Hatfield Forest, and all black one. I couldn't get round the right side of the bush to get a decent photograph so sadly these will have to do. My book indicates there is a form of male Field Cuckoo Bee that is black, but I don't think there is enough on this to confirm an id.

Having spent a few decades watching birds and being pretty confident about identifying any British bird on a good view, its fun to go back to the start with a new group of creatures. I haven't yet got a feel for what is variation within a common species and what marks out a different species. And I still haven't been able to point at a bee and say "thats a Garden Bumble Bee" event though I'm sure they are all around.

Hatfield Forest Cuckoo Bees.

A walk round Emblems Coppice in Hatfield Forest, partly to see if I could hear the Nightingale recently heard by local birder Laurence, partly to catch up with some woodland birds, but also to look for bees.

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. 

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.