Thursday 12 May 2016

The weather was much better than had been forecast and the sun was shining brightly in what was supposed to be an overcast day. It would have been a hot day, but the wind kept the temperature to being pleasantly warm. A butterfly transect was completed earlier in the week, so that left the day open for some hoverfly hunting and maybe a bee or two.

The day got off to a good start with the first flowering greater celandine, germander speedwell and cow parsley for the year, along with the first marmalade hoverfly for the season down between the hospital and Springwood. Further down the track a second hoverfly was caught in the sweep net which turned out to be a male Leucozona lucorum  - a first for the patch.

This years first Meridon equestris and Sphaerophoria scripta were caught on Osier Marsh. S scripta is very similar to several different species of hoverfly. All have similar markings which can vary depending on temperatures during development and the only way to confirm ID is to examine the male genetalia. Luckily, a male was caught and I was able to examine the shape and form of the genitals for the first time to confirm the species. Females can not be separated.

It has been wonderful to hear a cuckoo on a number of visits this year. It was first noted calling on 30th April and has been heard calling regularly since. This is one of the most iconic sounds of spring and any day spent in the countryside on a warm and sunny day with the cuckoo calling has to be one of life's greatest moments. This was sadly lacking in 2015 when there were only two records with a singing male heard on the 9th and 10th May!

I successfully ran an actinic moth trap on a small number of occasions in 2015 and had already recorded poplar hawkmoth, but I was stunned to come across a mating pair in the long grass next to the cycle path. They were quite exposed and it is surprising that they hadn't been spotted by any predator. I have been recording wildlife for thirty years now, and I have never seen anything like this before!



Mating poplar hawkmoths

A visit to Reffley Wood proved extremely productive and I managed to add a further 4 new species for the patch and another first for the year. A medium sized black hoverfly was netted just after entering the wood and ID'd as Cheilosia albitarsis. A little further along another hoverfly was spotted, but proved elusive and it wasn't until I was coming back out of the wood later that I managed to net it. A quick examination of it proved it was a species that I have wanted to see ever since I started to get interested in hoverflies a couple of years ago - Rhingia campestris. This is quite an easy one to ID due to its great big long 'beak' protruding from the front of its face!

Rhingia campestris

There is a sandy track that runs through the north-eastern edge of Reffley Wood. A bench is situated almost at the end of the track where I have spent many times watching a group of small bees busily buzzing about at this time of year. I had always suspected that they were some kind of mining bee and it wasn't until today that I have been able to get an ID on them. They are quite tricky to pin down and I can only say that this is a tentative ID until I can get them determined by someone much more experienced. But as far as I can tell, they are the sandpit mining bee Andrena barbilabris.

Female head and thorax

Female abdomen

Male