It was nice to notice a moth last week after a long absence, especially as Moth Night was held between 8-10th July in 2021. Each year Atropos, the Butterfly Conservation and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology organise a citizen science moth recording event while celebrating these wonderful beautiful creatures. More information on Moth night can be found at Moth night.
With a wingspan of 18-25 mm, the moth I saw on Tuesday was a Garden carpet moth (Xanthorhoe fluctuata).
This common moth can be found from April to September, in many areas of the UK but particularly in gardens and allotments. Although this moth flies during the night, as with my sighting last week, they can be discovered at rest on buildings during the day.
The caterpillars of the Garden carpet will eat through Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata), Shepherd’s-purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), wild Horse-radish (Armoracia rusticana), Hairy Bitter-cress (Cardamine hirsuta) along with cultivated cabbages amongst other plants.
A useful moth ID app that I use a lot is ‘What’s Flying tonight’ produced by the Butterfly Conservation, UK moths and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.
Annual honesty (Lunaria annua), Shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) and Hedge garlic (Alliara petiolata) were all blooming last week, which is great for the increasing numbers of pollinators I saw flying around.
Some flowers began to open up on a Crab apple (Malus spectabilis) I saw in in one garden too.
As alluded to above, more insects were prominent throughout last week compared to earlier in the month. I saw my first male Orange-tip butterfly (Anthocharis cardamines) and undisturbed Seven-spot ladybirds (Coccinella septempunctata) of the year. Yet more species of bee were buzzing about too; I observed female Early bumblebees (Bombus pratorum) one Hairy-footed flower (Anthophora plumipes) bee queen, along with several female Red-tailed (Bombus lapidarius) bumblebees. A great Bumblebee ID guide can be viewed at Blooms for Bees; this website also includes ways to encourage bees into your garden.
Then on Thursday, as I was clearing wildflower seedlings from a path, I noticed a beautiful redhead resting next to me.
This photo doesn’t do the vibrant colouration of this bee justice.
I recognized it was a bee but was initially unsure of the species. Upon further investigation, via Google lens, I discovered it was a female Tawny mining bee (Andrena fulva).
Given the place I saw the bee, I was unable to locate it’s nest, in fact it may have flown in from another garden anyway. Their burrow is usually located in lawns (sometimes flower beds); identifiable from a mound of earth with a hole at the top for the entrance. Often described as having a volcano like appearance it can be differentiated from ants nests which are flatter and have no distinguishable hole at the summit. After several weeks these mounds are no where to be found, so they can be left undisturbed without any worry of damage to lawns.
These solitary bees (which do not sting) can be seen between April and June in gardens and parkland as well as along the edges of fields and orchards.
The appearance of these beautiful bees coincides with the flowing of Cherry (Prunus), Pear (Pyrus), Hawthorn (Crataegus), Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), Maple (Acer), Willow (Sallows) and Apple (Malus) trees, along with other plants such as Buttercups (Ranunculus) and Dandelions (Taraxacum). Nectar and Pollen from these blooms is collected for the bee larvae that develop in the nest beneath the ground. Once the young become pupa, they continue to hibernate through winter to eventually emerge the following spring.
Males are smaller than the female Tawny bees and are a dull brown colour. They do not take any part in creating nests or rearing the young, the females will undertake these jobs alone.
The weather during the second week of lockdown was mixed. It began with snow flurries and sleet but ended with the warmest day of the year so far.
I continued my daily exercise walks around my area and saw more wild flowers, trees, bees and birds enjoy Spring.
Plants that began to bloom last week were;
– Shepherd’s Purse (Capsellabursa-pastoris),
– Snake’s head fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris),
– Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum),
– Annual honesty (Lunaria annua),
– Common Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris)
– and Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus).
I also noticed my first Dandelion (Taraxacumofficinale) clock of the year
Water droplets can be seen as frost began to melt on this Dandelion clock. A flower head will produce an average of 180 seeds.
along with Horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) trees budding at this time too.
One particularly special moment occurred last Wednesday when I visited my local woodland park. I went for my exercise as early as possible so that I would avoid too many people. As I entered the park I heard a sound of my childhood, that of Skylarks (Alaudaarvensis). I grew up surrounded by farmland, similar to where I live now, and Skylarks singing was familiar to me (see RSPB).
I knew there were nesting Skylarks in this area because of a notice I saw last year (see my blog post Relaxing into Autumn). There were three Skylarks, two were clearly a pair. Occasionally the third bird would get too close to the other two; causing a noisy aerial display before they all returned to the open ground apart once again. I watched this happen four times as I carefully moved around them; maintaining a distance so that I wouldn’t disturb them unnecessarily. Seeing and hearing these lovely birds was a beautiful experience to witness.
On Friday, while at home, I heard a group of Magpies (Pica pica). They were making such a raucous noise that I looked outside to see what was occurring. I was fascinated to see one Magpie (which was trying to escape) pinned down and being pecked at by another one. As this occurred, four more Magpies kept flying in, occasionally taking part in the attack. Eventually the bird which was under attack escaped and forced by the group to fly away. I have witnessed birds defend territories before but not like that.
Another sound I became aware of later in the week, were Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris), (See RSPB). Although I heard their call, I was unable to see them. However I have observed a Great tit (Parus major) and Coal tit (Periparus ater) and several Blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) visit the Rowan (Sorbus) tree outside my flat.
In a week of much needed rain, I remained dry while waiting for the bus on Thursday. I arrived at the bus stop with plenty of time to spare and began to notice the flowers around my feet.
The most prolific were Daisies (Bellisperennis), Dandelions (Taraxacumofficinale) and Buttercups (Ranunculusbulbosus). Childhood memories using these in flower based activities came back to me. Buttercups to discover if someone liked butter, Dandelions to tell the time (presumably when we weren’t wearing watches) and Daisies for making daisy chains or discovering if someone loved you (or loved you not).
Daisies remain a favourite flower of mine because seeing them lifts my spirits. Yet the thing I love most about Daisies is that the name means day’s eye (from the Old English dæges-eage) because the petals open up during daylight hours and close as night falls. Even in Welsh they are called llygad y dydd meaning the eye of day. The following photo, taken early in the morning, shows their progress as they open.
Other plants I noticed flowering were;
-Red dead-nettle (Lamiumpurpureum). This pretty non-stinging plant is good for Garden Tiger (Arctiacaja), White Ermine (Spilosomalubricipeda) and Angle Shades (Phlogophorameticulosa) moth caterpillars which feed on it’s leaves, while the flowers are great for Bumblebees (Bombus) and the Red Mason bee (Osmia bicornis).
-Shepherd’s purse (Capsellabursa-pastoris). The seed pods of this resemble heart shaped purses which contain copper coloured seeds that look like coins.
-Germander speedwell (Veronicachamaedrys). Speedwells at one time were considered a good luck charm for travellers for ‘speedy’ travel as they are often found along verges.
Initially the last plant I saw was unknown to me. It took some time but I eventually discovered that it is Wild Turnip (Brassicarapa).
Hedgehog Awareness Week took place last week (British Hedgehog Preservation Society). It publicises the continued decline in Hedgehog numbers along with information on how to help reverse this. I decided to learn more about hedgehogs at this time by reading ‘The Hedgehog Handbook’ by Sally Coulthard as I travelled by bus. Each chapter gives a monthly account on what hedgehogs are doing and how to help them.
This is a wonderfully informative book contains lots of useful advice that I can put into practice and I loved reading it.
Bee in the Moment 