“Tell me can you feel it, tell me can you feel it, tell me can you feel it, the heat is on…”
The 80’s song from the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack with Glenn Frey’s voice, synthesizer and saxophone was my earworm as the temperature soared last week. The temperature increased to around 27°C mid week, which meant lots more insects ventured out as it felt like summer.
I was happy to see my first Red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) butterfly of the year, however my main observations were bees including the Red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) and Honey bees (Apis mellifera).
Another bee I started seeing last week was the Tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum). I noticed a nest inside a compost bin as I emptied grass clippings from the mower bag.
I have seen Tree bumblebees nest in bird houses before but not under compost. I made sure I avoided tipping grass onto their home and used the next bin along. I couldn’t help watching them for a little while as I stopped for a breather on the very hot Wednesday.
Moths were prominent throughout the week too. Unfortunately Box tree moth (Cydalima perspectalis) caterpillars and the signs of heavy infestation (foliage that had been eaten and covered with webbing) was noticeably present in several gardens. Therefore, I spent lots of time picking them off buxus topiary and informing clients to keep an eye out for them as well. For more information on this pest see the RHS website.
I discovered this years first sighting of a Silver Y (Autographa gamma) moth.
This immigrant is one of the few brown moths I can identify easily, mostly due to the clear y markings on it’s forewings but also because of their size and shape. This is a day and night flying moth which can be observed visiting flowers to obtain nectar.
However my most exciting moth sighting was the Lime hawk-moth (Mimas tiliae).
This spectacular large moth is night flying. It’s wingspan is 4.6-7.8cms and it can be found in broadleaf woodland, parks and gardens between May and July. I accidentally disturbed it as I pruned some shrubs under a Lime (Tilia sp.) tree. Thankfully it didn’t seem bothered by the disruption and it was carefully placed back near the lime tree. While adult moths of this species don’t feed, the caterpillars do. Once they have emerged from overwintering pupa, the caterpillars will eat Lime, elms (Ulmus sp.), Alder (Alnus glutinosa), Downy Birch (Betula pubescens) and Silver Birch (Betula pendula), Plane (Platanus x hispanica) along with some Cherry cultivars. This was the first Hawk-moth I have ever seen. There are a few that exist in the UK. The nearest I came to seeing one before was observing caterpillars of the Elephant hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) eating away at some Fuchsia. For more information on these Hawk-moths see the Butterfly Conservation website (Lime hawk-moth and Elephant hawk-moth)
I also saw hoverflies. I am still learning about these insects and learnt another one last week.
The photo above shows a Narcissus bulb fly (Merodon equestris). The maggots eat away at the centre of bulbs from the Amaryllidaceae family. However even though the maggots are a pest, the adult hoverflies are pollinators.
Bee in the Moment 