April sees the beginning of most of my invertebrate surveys and so I thought I would do a first survey walk at the end of March to see what was already around. I will be honest and given the weather, I was not expecting to see much.
The walk started well with a Queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee, feeding. The Queens are the first to be seen, as only they overwinter. Once they have fed up and found a suitable nest site, they will begin laying the eggs which will become the workers. Males are only laid at the end of the season ready to mate with the new Queens who then hibernate over the winter. Checking through the flower beds in the gardens, I found two Common Green Shieldbugs. They overwinter as adults and then emerge in the spring.
Moving onto the Tarn, the usual residents were there, although our winter visitors (Teal & Gadwall) seem to have departed. Lots of territorial behaviour going on but couldn’t see much evidence of nesting yet. Found another Common Green Shieldbug and also a new Hoverfly for the patch, Eristrophe Elegans, a spring-flying species.
Also saw 7-spot Ladybird, Hairy-footed Flower Bee and lots of snails.
Pete's Favourite Things 