The photo above proves the importance of being careful when tidying gardens so hiding insects don’t become injured.
It’s best to leave cutting down perennials until spring if you can; not only do insects, like these Seven-spot ladybirds (Coccinella septempunctata), shelter amongst them but they provide food for birds too.
It was great to still witness pollinators flying around last week. Even though, due to the colder weather numbers have greatly reduced, some insects are still foraging. I noticed the odd hardy Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) as well as a few Honey bees (Apis mellifera) visiting autumn flowering perennials and shrubs. Currently the most wonderful spectacle is Common Ivy (Hedera helix) in full bloom. Loved by pollinators including butterflies, bees and hoverflies, ivy is a useful plant to have in flower at this time of year. It supports up to fifty species altogether, such as providing food for Holly blue Butterflies (Celastrina argiolus), along with the Small dusty wave (Idaea seriata), Angle shades (Phlogophora meticulosa)
and Swallow-tailed (Ourapteryx sambucaria) moths. Mature Ivy plants flower in September and October on clustered umbels. Eventually, pollinated flowers develop into fruit that provides food for Thrushes (Turdidae), Blackbirds (Turdus merula), Blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) and Wood pigeons (Columba palumbus). Ivy also provides shelter for hibernating insects over winter.
However the most prevalent insects I witnessed covering the ivy flowers last week were the Common wasp (Vespula vulgaris). They weren’t nesting amongst it but feeding on the abundant nectar. My confidence in their complete focus on the ivy flowers, and not being bothered by my presence, enabled me to unusually observe them up close. Each time I came across ivy covered with wasps, I would take a few moments to watch and listen. Unlike bees, their buzzing was very faint; you had to listen carefully to hear it. I had never been close enough to appreciate the wonderful pattern on their abdomen before or watch their activity as they hurriedly switched from one flower to another.
I would have been observing male and worker wasps obtain nectar from the ivy (which also visit other umbellifier flowers). Queens are active in spring, collecting nectar from Cotoneaster and other spring flowering shrubs.
These much hated creatures are useful pollinators (as the photo below proves) when not pestering us as we eat outdoors. We can’t really blame them trying to access an easy source of food or protecting nests when we stumble upon them.
Wasps also help keep insect numbers down which once captured, are chewed up and fed to the larvae.
Although I haven’t seen any yet, I am ever hopeful that I will see Ivy bees (Colletes hederae) as I look at ivy. Recorded for the first time in southern Britain as far back as 2001, these solitary bees feed on ivy nectar and are therefore only seen when ivy flowers. Since they were first noted in Britain the species has been spreading northwards, nesting in sandy soil. For further information see (Wildlife Trust).
More fungi started to appear last week too; I saw
– Common bonnets (Mycena galericulata)
– Shaggy ink caps (Xylaria hypoxylon) and
– Candlesnuff (also referred to as candlestick or stag’s horn) fungus (Xylaria hypoxylon).
Lastly I was utterly surprised to witness a Fox (Vulpes vulpes) run across my allotment as I worked early on Saturday afternoon. It looked healthy so presumably had been disturbed with all the activity from allotmenteers tidying their plots.
Leaf colours slowly started to change last week and it definitely began to look like Autumn; even so the occasional bee was still visiting flowers.
Unlike last year, which was amazing for fungi, 2020 has been fairly quiet up to now. The few I have noticed have usually been Fairy ring mushrooms (Marasmius oreades) or Clustered domecaps (Lyophyllum decastes).
However on Tuesday, I did see several groups of Fairy Inkcaps, also called Fairy bonnets (Coprinellus disseminatus) in one garden. I was fascinated to see them appear to grow from the gaps of a garden wall; especially as this agaricus fungi feeds on decaying wood.
Confusingly, Coprinus is Latin for ‘Living on Dung’ which these mushrooms don’t do. Plus most Inkcaps dissolve into black ink as they mature, but not these. The fruiting bodies of this fungus were gaining nutrients from a nearby raised bed, made of old sleepers, that was attached to the wall. I love how the mushrooms look set against the brickwork, almost as though nature is breaking through a human creation.
Although I saw lots of Fairy mushrooms last week, I didn’t notice any fairies.
The results from the UK’s Big Butterfly Count 2020 were released last week. This summer, between 17th July to 9th August over 1.4 million butterflies were counted. However, while the amount of people taking part increased, overall the average numbers of butterflies were down 34% from the previous year (and were the lowest average since 2009 when the first count took place).
One difference from the 2019 results was the amount of Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) butterflies. Last year was great for this species as a huge migration of Painted Ladies arrived to the UK from the continent; this spectacle wasn’t repeated this summer. Whatever other reasons for the results this year, it does show the fragility of nature and how quickly things can change.
Yet there are things we can do to improve this situation in the future; for example, growing food for caterpillars as well as providing shelter and nectar. The Butterfly Conservation website provides helpful tips on how we can help butterflies within our gardens.
More information on the results, including the breakdown of the individual species, can be seen on the Butterfly Conservation website too (see here).
It is still possible to see Butterflies on sunny days, along with moths, even in this month as shown on the picture below (also provided by the Butterfly Conservation charity).
Bee in the Moment 