Yesterday, for the first time, he flew up to the kitchen window and tapped! However, by far the funniest thing happened this morning. Andrew got up to have a pee in the bathroom. Toilet is right next to a first floor window that looks out onto the garden and Robbie flew up to the window and sat on the windowsill watching him! A bit disconcerting… but very funny.

These pics show Robbie in his still fledgling feathers – I’ll try to get a grown up pic of him today as well.

I can’t believe how sad I feel. This bird has only been in our lives for about a week but already I’m fond of him.

How did we meet? Well, I was walking around the garden and we just kind of met behind one of the shrubs, he was walking one way and I was walking the other. He was very laid back about our meeting and I was totally uncool.

It’s not every day you come foot to foot with a fully grown jackdaw. He looked at me with his beautiful piercing blue eyes and “crawked” hello. I ran indoors to tell Andrew!

To start with if George (Andrew named him not me!) saw either of us through the window he would come running and crawking. For a couple of days he didn’t do too much flying and what he did do ended in near disaster (one flying expedition ended with him trying to land in the beech tree, he fell out and landed on the roof of the greenhouse and slid to the ground looking slightly embarrassed).

He’s now got flying sussed – in fact he seems to relish in the fact that he can fly and I can’t, and does circles of the house just to show off.

So where did he come from? I think the answer to that is our chimney. A jackdaw pair had set up home in one of them a couple of months ago. If you happened to be sleeping in the room with the chimney breast it was a little hard to have a lie-in in the morning. Jackdaws like to chat – and argue!

I have a theory that George was the black-sheep (or should that be white-jackdaw) of the family. A strip of feathers about an inch wide, stretching from the top of his head to the back of his neck, have been systematically plucked (but don’t tell him because I don’t think he knows he’s bald). When we met I made sure I left him to wander around the garden – in the hope that his parents would return and feed him. We waited, worried, but they didn’t come.

He’s now growing up. His body is filling out – and he’s looking more like a proper jackdaw (ignoring the bald patch). He stays away for longer – I wish I knew where he went and what he was doing. Has he joined up with one of the jackdaw gangs in the area? I’m hoping we’ve helped him over his rough patch – that he can now become a proper jackdaw.

I’m checking the garden again from the bathroom window and it’s lunchtime. I double-take the birds in the garden. At first I think it’s just a blackbird… but no… it’s George. He’s back.

Andrena flavipes or Yellow legged mining bee (female)

Surrounded by a tall native hedge with the grave stones covered in flowering Lesser celandine it seemed a good place to start my hunt. I walked slowly along the grassy bank examining each flower head but it wasn’t until I reached the end of the bank, where a small patch of daffodils were growing, that I spotted my first new bee perched on one of the daff petals.

The Andrena flavipes (or Yellow legged mining bee) is a bit of a stunner. With broad light coloured stripes of hair on its abdomen, and the yellow/orange pollen hairs on the hind tibia, it certainly stands out from other bees. It’s a medium sized bee and this female certainly wasn’t worried about me – as I photographed her basking and posing in the late afternoon sun.

Andrena flavipes or Yellow legged mining bee (female)

Next up is still a bit of a mystery. While watching the A. flavipes I could see several small bees patrolling an area which included the daffs, a patch of celandines and the end of the hedge. Round and round they went. Hardly stopping for breath. Every now and then one of them would stop for a brief respite on the daffs and I hastely took a few photos. It’s definitely a male and probably another Andrena species, but which one is still a bit of a mystery!

Mystery male Solitary bee

Last bee of the day was a species I’ve seen at a few locations in the last few weeks, including my local garden centre and my garden. It’s another new-bee to me and very beautiful. The Andrena clarkella (this one’s a female) doesn’t have a common name. If anyone can think of a good name for a bee with a shiny black abdomen and foxy-brown thorax, let me know!

Andrena clarkella (female)

Yesterday I followed up a bee-tip-off from my friend Andy and visited our nearby stately home, Kingston Lacy, a National Trust house and gardens on the outskirts of Wimborne – just a couple of miles up the road. Andy had emailed me to say that he’d seen bees (but wasn’t sure what kind) in the wall of the shop (housed in one of the house outbuildings).

Anthophora plumipes or Hairy footed Flower bee (male)

I could hear the buzzing from 20ft away and sure enough patrolling the hole-ridden mortared brick wall were about twenty Anthophora plumipes (the hairy-footed Flower-bee). When a few females appeared they were instantly pounced on by about six or seven ginger males and a manic chase ensued until the black bodied females made a dive for the holes in the wall and disappeared from view. I could have watched them all day – but sadly I had to get home to do some work!

A. plumipes disappearing into a hole (female)

Luckily I’ve seen male A. plumipes in my garden feeding on Red deadnettle and a new Pulmonaria (that I only bought on Sunday!), so I’m hoping that a female will turn up soon as well! I wonder if they are nesting in our walls? Maybe it’s time to visit the garden centre again and stock up on some more flowering plants… the Pussy willows are very “in” with the bees at the moment. I feel a buying spree coming on.

A. plumipes coming into land on the new Pulmonaria (male)

You’d be forgiven for thinking I’d gone a bit mad but I know this particular nursery is a magnet for insects. Sitting on the edge of a large ancient wood on the outskirts of Corfe Mullen, Woodlands Garden Centre is a little gem. I couldn’t see anything to start with as I wandered between the uninspiring pots – it wasn’t until I reached the heathers that I heard the first buzz – and a humble buff-tailed bumblebee  bashed into my hand as I reached for one of the pots, shortly followed by a red-tailed bumblebee who was equally indignant.

I stood and watched these two as they went about their business – the sun was now shining brightly and looking up I spied exactly what I’d been hoping to see. A beautiful black bodied bee with a tawny brown thorax resting on the fence just above the heather pots. Slightly smaller than a honeybee I think it was an Andrena clarkella (the first I’ve even seen). Obviously a female with golden pollen laden legs.

Nearby on a plant label a smaller bee landed – a male. More dowdy and smaller. A male A. clarkella. Mr and Mrs?

This lovely bee is one of the first of the solitary bees to appear each year and loves to feed on pollen laden pussy willow. Funnily enough on my way to the till (with a pulmonaria – to try and attract a feather-footed flower bee!) I spotted a large cultivated willow in full bloom. Getting nearer it became obvious that it was early insect heaven – for me and the insects!

My first small tortoiseshell butterfly of the year was merrily feeding away, along with numerous buff-tailed and red-tailed bumblebee queens. The rest of the customers must have thought I was a bit strange as I stood gazing at the tree – every now and again clicking away with my camera. The female A. clarkella (I think) was there as well, along with numerous hoverflies.

If I could have got it in the car I would have taken the willow home, that’s if I could also have afforded the £60 they were asking! I’ll have to hope my £4 pulmonaria and 3 small pots of heather do the trick!

Postscript:

I can confirm that the flowers are working! Went out into the garden today and managed to photograph a gorgeous Comma butterfly (1st of the year) and a solitary bee (not sure what it is yet). They were photographed on the daffs – but were also taking a lot of interest in the heather and pulmonaria! Hoorah!

At breakfast I watched a pair of song thrushes collecting moss and twigs from under the magnolia, returning again and again to a patch high up in the thick hedge. I wonder if it’s the same pair that fledged young last year. I hope so…

My 3 year old pond exploded on the 10th February with the sound of 40 mating frogs. It was like all the frogs of Corfe Mullen had suddenly decended on my garden. Last year “0″ frogs – this year 40! The noise was just delicious.

For a couple of days I set up my portable hide next to the pond just so that I could disappear down there in the evening and sit listening to their earthy croaks, while watching them with my little torch – their eyes lighting up like stars against the black water. There’s still a couple of frogs left but mainly there’s just spawn. So much spawn it’s bulging out of the water as in places it’s 6 inches deep.

The crocus and snowdrops are out. I’ve been waiting for ANY insects, but up to now nothing. Today, with the warm (yes warm!) sunshine they arrived. Honeybees, bumblebee (a single Bombus terrestris – buff tailed bumblebee), hoverflies and most excitingly a beautiful peacock butterfly and a glimpse of a vivid-lemon-coloured male brimstone.

While the insects fed, I dug. We got rid of an awful conifer hedge last year that cut across our garden, today I started to plant a “native” hedge in its place. Beech, oak, hawthorn, blackthorn, honeysuckle and holly at last out of their pots and into the earth. Very small plants – mainly dug up from around the garden or given to me by friends (from their gardens!) but it’s a start.

A couple of nights ago I realised that we had a small starling roost in the garden. I was filling the bird feeders at dusk, heard a noise, looked up and watched about 20 starling drop into our unruly laurel hedge. I’m not surprised I didn’t know they were there because they arrived so suddenly, blink and I’d have missed them.

I thought I’d watch them fly in to the roost tonight (I think I was actually too late and they’d already arrived) but while I stood in the garden listening to the blackbird and song thrush’s belting dusk-chorus, a pipistrelle bat flitted around the tops of the trees, joined by a second a few minutes later. Now I’m sitting here typing this post and a tawny owl is woo-ing outside the window – perfect way to end a perfect Spring day…

Later in the week, and back in my garden, I started to notice more garden birds on the feeders. A brambling made a brief appearance and five bullfinch sat in the camelias having a chit-chat.

The weather was rainy and dull for most of the week, by yesterday I was pretty stir-crazy, so a walk down by Poole Harbour was definitely on the books.

The first thing to greet me when I got out of the car was a field full of fieldfare and starling – feeding on a damp, mole-ridden field. The fieldfare will be on their way back north in the next couple of months, but it was nice to see them again before they do.

I walked round to the reedbeds that edge the harbour and watched a white female sika in the trees. She seemed to think that just because she was behind a couple of twigs she was invisible. We sat and watched each other for a while – until we both got bored!

Further out in the reeds the rest of her family were better hidden. In the late afternoon sun they were a very pretty sight – backed by the houses in the suburbs of Poole.

Walking back across the fieldfare field I couldn’t resist a photo of the old oaks that dominate the field. Great lumps of oak – standing firm for hundreds of years. Wonder what they have seen in their lives.

Lastly I wandered over to the open water, at the top of the embankment I had a great view of the harbour. The dark clouds that have been with us all week were still lurking but it was a still and calm view to finish my walk.

Blackbird sings from the top of the house

Here are my results:

Bluetit: 2
Woodpigeon: 9
Greenfinch: 5
Blackbird: 7
Chaffinch: 2
Jackdaw: 3
Coal tit: 1
Robin: 3
Magpie: 3
Dunnock: 1
Great tit: 1
Bullfinch: 2
Song thrush: 1

[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOLAGYmUQV0&]

The Ivy Bee. Note the distinctive stripy abdomen

You might remember that last year around this time I asked you to “look at ivy flowers for bees“, well I’m doing it again. The yearly hunt for Ivy Bees (Colletes hederae) has started. Looking quite similar to a honey bee, wasp or hoverfly, you might think they would be hard to spot but once you get your eye in it’s eeeeeeeeeesy. Even I can spot them!

Ivy bee on the right – Wasp on the left

Here’s what the Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society says, the Ivy Bee was “recorded as new to Britain in 2001 when Ian Cross discovered specimens at Langton Matravers in Dorset. Since then, the bee has spread across much of southern England, and is now extremely plentiful in some coastal localities, and increasingly, inland. Peak activity matches the flowering period of its key pollen forage plant, IVY (Hedera helix), and the species is on the wing from mid-September until early November. This makes it the last solitary bee species to emerge each year.”

They are on the march north… so this year they could be ANYWHERE!

Here’s a map of their distribution as at 21 Sept 2009:

Map courtesy of BWARS

This year I was on a mission. There was one particular Ordance Survey grid square where they hadn’t been found. Grid SU. Near to Wimborne and near to where I live! So I went on a serious “Bee Hunt” while doing my shopping (well you have to do more than one thing at once don’t you?).

First I found them in square SZ (only 70m away from the SU square… very annoying!)

The SZ bees – two at a time – I’m just getting greedy now!

Then I found them down the road from the farmshop at grid ST at Pamphill nr Wimborne (OK, this is just taking the mickey now!)

At ST. Ivy bee on the left – Hoverfly on the right

Finally I found “one” in grid SU, in the centre of Wimborne town while I was going to Somerfield to do my weekly shop. It was behind a toy shop on some ivy flowers that were climbing up a fence. It’s really weird where you can find interesting wildlife when you really start looking. Find the habitat (ivy!) and you might find the bee!

Finally at SU. See the ivy at the far end above the fence

Loads of shoppers watched puzzled as I climbed onto a nearby brick seat to get a photo (they all scarpered when I took this photo!). Did I care… naaaa! I’d got the little bugger!

Finally the SU grid square Ivy Bee!

If you’d like to look for Ivy Bees have a look at the excellent page on the BWARS website here, and if you see any (or even just one) send your records to Stuart Roberts (spmr@msn.com). You can also download a one-page PDF here that you can print off and keep handy, telling you all about them. You could be the one to add a new dot to the Ivy Bee map!

Nearly there… waiting for the ferry

For over a week I’d been studying the Met Office weather forecast for Poole Harbour in minute hourly detail. Would it be cold? would it be wet? would it be windy, cold and wet? I’d wavered between really wanting to go and wondering why the hell I’d put my name down in the first place.

We had been given very little detail about what the weekend would consist of other than a roughty-toughty kit list consisting of two pairs of walking boots, waterproofs and a full change of clothes. Were they trying to tell me something? I’m not a natural-born-camper. I love my king size bed, frothy coffee and croissants for breakfast, to dive into a deep bubblebath and then pad around in my thick cosy dressing-gown, so why oh why had I put my name down?

Waiting on the Jetty – 29 chattering women!

Anyway, the day had arrived, and with my new sleeping bag tucked under my arm and rucksack stuffed with clothes Andrew drove me to Sandbanks to catch the little ferry to Brownsea Island at 4pm. A quick kiss goodbye and I was on my own. Except I wasn’t. Looking down the jetty twenty nine women stood apprehensively waiting for the ferry as well. All different ages but with one thing in common, we were to become the first “Hardy Women”.

Setting up our “tent”

Once on the island our team of Dorset Wildlife Trust staff, which included Nicky, Amanda, Emily and Abby, briefed us on the next stage, gave us an H&S talk, and split us into two groups. The Red Squirrels and the Blue Lagoons. Then we walked for a mile with all our kit to a remote part of the island set within a pine filled wood.

Next we were given 2 pieces of tarpaulin, 4 tent pegs and a bit of rope and sent of in teams of 4 to build our shelters. You know, if there’s one thing I’ve learnt from this weekend it’s how dammed practical women are. Without any fuss everyone set up their tents and set about making them feel like “home”. Jane (another Jane!) in our tent even make a pine-cone wind-chime!

Now that has to be worth a bit of sponsorship money – just look at that tent!

After dinner (cooked on a small camping stove) we walked to a viewing point and watched a blazing red sun set over Poole as the little boats bobbed on their moorings.

Rhododendron Bashing

Up early, cooked breakfast and more tasks. This morning, after a talk from Emily and Amanda, we were off on a “forage” for useful plants, flowers and berries.  Did you know that the leaf of the chestnut tree, mixed with a bit of water, makes a great “soap” alternative? No, me neither and I didn’t try it just in case it turned my face green!

After a swift lunch we started on our main conservation task of the weekend. Rhododendron Bashing! Many years ago the island was planted with rhododendron which have now spread across the island. Not being a native species this plant (in a wild, unrestricted state) can totally take over an area, and because its leaves are so acidic, it kills off all other plants that might grow beneath it. Pretty flowers for a couple of weeks a year, but rubbish for wildlife or a balanced habitat, so it has to go…

Whoops! Just a little fire, swifty dealt with…

Our job was to continue the work of cutting, lopping and burning the massive rhodys. It was impressive to see everyone throwing themselves into the work. After a few hours we stopped for a break and luckily we spotted that a spark had jumped from the fire we had made over the fire-break path and set a dead tree branch alight. I can only praise the DWT team for the professional way they dealt with the problem. In no time at all it was under control and the fire was out. A bit more work and then it was time to get back to camp. Did I say it would be great if you sponsored me, no? I got really, really dirty and tired… I worked really hard to earn your sponsorship – promise!

Our “Tent” crew – me on the far right

That evening after dinner we sat around as a group, singing songs, telling stories and reciting poems. Who would have thought that 29 women could be so resourceful. Who needs Saturday night TV? although I must admit I did wonder what was happening on the XFactor – just for a second!.

Making our rafts

Next morning, our last morning on the island, we had one final team-building task to perform in our two groups. Make a raft and paddle across the lake. So with two pallets, some rope, two paddles and six plastic containers we set to work and soon the rafts were launched and the race was on. We won but that wasn’t really the point, we shared our prize of a bottle of bubbly with the other team, and they shared their chocolate prize with us. Would 29 blokes have done the same…. I wonder???

The race is on

All too soon it was our final lunch and the presentation of our certificates to confirm that we were “Hardy Women” before returning to the ferry and back home to reality.

Collecting our certificates. Officially Hardy Women!

I’m sure that everyone on the event shared a little pang of regret at going home. We’d all missed our home comforts and our loved ones, but there was a great feeling of comradeship that I haven’t felt for a very long time. No raised voices, no bickering, no deadlines, no telephones – just a group of amazing women from all walks of life enjoying a weekend away from the “real” world, raising money for a worthy cause.

The view from our camp

If you’ve managed to get to the end of this post and you would like to sponsor me, even if it’s only a weeny amount, please have a look at my JustGiving page by clicking here You know you secretly want to…

You can also look at more pictures from the event on my Flickr account here

Or just leave me a message and suggest what we can do next! The Hardy Women are up for it!

Thank you.

Jane x

THIS BLOG IS NOT RUN BY BBC AUTUMNWATCH

Sika Deer smelling the air, early one morning on Brownsea Island

Sounds like a great idea to me, as I think the old format was getting a bit dull and predictable. Hopefully this new format will allow the Autumnwatch film crews to visit more wildlife mad people (like you and me) and watch more of the wildlife in the UK’s back gardens.

With that in mind I’ve been busy adding an Autumnwatch 2009 page to the Dorset Wildlife Trust website, where people can add their Dorset Wildlife images to the special Flickr Group (so if you have any pictures of wildlife/landscapes taken in Dorset over the last few months, please go ahead and add them to the group). Big or small we’d love to see what you’ve seen!

Early morning watching the birds on Brownsea Island lagoon

I’m hoping the BBC will also do an update from Brownsea Island Nature Reserve (host of Autumnwatch 2008). I spent a weekend on Brownsea recently watching bats. It was a great weekend (I will add some film of the bat roost at some point) and gave me the opportunity to watch the other island wildlife before the tourists arrived on the first boat from the mainland. Within a couple of hours I’d seen woodpeckers, deer, red squirrels and loads and loads of water birds. An island all to myself – just heaven!

NOTE: Just to make it clear. This ISN’T a BBC blog. If you’d like to ask the Team at Autumnwatch a question click through to the Autumnwatch website. They have a great forum & blog and can also be found on Twitter under the name @bbcautumnwatch.  However, if you would like to leave me a comment…. please feel free to comment below. I love reading all your thoughts. Cheers. Jane

Just look at it! cute as a button! (come on guys admit it, you know you want to!)

The honey bees were going mad for the last of the geranium flowers. Almost fighting over them.

Just three dying flowers left and every one of them with a honey bee, if not two.

So let’s hear it for Apis mellifera the honey bee.

We MUST do everything in our powers to stop this creature from dying out.

What will I be doing?

I’ll be planting a lot more bee friendly plants in my garden next spring to give these critters as much spring/summer/autumn nosh as they can manage.

Has anyone got any spare geranium?

I’ve never managed to photograph an Emperor Dragonfly before. These enormous dragonflies charge about in the summer looking more like small birds – but they never seem to stop. Until they lay eggs that is. This lovely female flew up and down the small pond until finally deciding on this spot in the lilies. Rather reminiscent of Monet’s paintings don’t you think

I’ve seen far more Small Tortoiseshell butterflies this year (which is encouraging). Their numbers are way down Nationally, but in Dorset they don’t seem to be doing too badly. Such a beautiful butterfly. That blue edging is an amazing colour.

What could be more ahhhh that a baby deer, and this one was very cute and still quite fluffy. Unfortunately we are pretty overrun with Roe Deer in this neck of the woods, and I’m sure one of the local farmers will start shooting them soon to get the numbers down. Anyway, this one was very much alive and healthy and enjoying the summer sunshine.

Another butterfly, this time a Common Blue. It looks like they’ve been dipped in flaky blue paint. A tiny and often overlooked butterfly. They may be “Common” but they are still worth spending some time looking at…

This was actually a first for me. I’ve never seen a Wall Brown butterfly before. It wasn’t on an upright wall but obviously felt very comfortable (and suitably warmed) on this broken down one.

Finally, as I wandered home this young buzzard came to check me out. Against the bright sunshine it photographed in silhouette. I love the way the end of the wings are picked out by those upturned feathers.  It certainly made itself heard, screaming at me all the way home! Maybe it knows I haven’t been blogging enough…

Buff Tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) photographed June 2009

In fact, that’s one of the reasons I haven’t blogged; too busy looking at the wildlife to blog about it!

Anyway to make up for it (and because my friend Peter at Bishopthorpe Nature did a great blog post recently about Cuckoo Bumbles which has spurred me into action) here are my Top Six Bumbles to look out for in and around your own garden (all of them are common species and all but one was photographed this June):

In no particular order…

No 6 – The Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum)

Queens, workers & males all have one yellow stripe on the thorax and one on the abdomen (which is preceded by a black band) and an orange tail. The male has very distinctive yellow hairs on it’s face.  Small species (especially the workers). It’s face is as long as it is wide, and it has a short tongue. Colours can be very variable with some workers almost all black and some males with a second band of yellow on the thorax.

Easy to confuse with Bombus lapidarius. Resemblance to Bombus monticola.

Often found in gardens (great pollinators of soft-fruit flowers), this bumble can have two generations in the South. Queens are often one of the earliest to be seen in Spring. Males often produced in May.

Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) male photographed June 2009

No 5 – the Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)

Queens, workers and males are practically all pale ginger-brown colour, with a few patches of black hairs on the abdomen (sometimes there are a lot of these). There are distinct black hairs in with the ginger-brown ones on the thorax. Male has ginger-brown facial hairs. Medium sized. Abdomen is almost round (but seems more ovoid in males). Face longer than wide, long tongue. Colours don’t tend to vary too much but they do fade to an almost grey-brown colour.

Easy to confuse with Bombus humilis and Bombus muscorum.

Another regular garden visitor. Queens searching for suitable nesting sites are often the first carder-bees to be seen (March in the South).

Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) photographed June 2009

No 4 – the White Tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lucorum)

Queens, workers and some males have a single yellow band at the front of the thorax and one on the abdomen (which is preceded by a black band). White tail. Males have yellow facial hair (which is a good clear yellow – not muddy). Large, robust species – although workers are much smaller. Face as long as wide, tongue very short. There is some variation. Some males have an additional yellow band at the rear of the thorax and no black band at the beginning of the abdomen.

Workers are hard to distinguish from Bombus terrestris, although queens & males should be easy to ID.

Regularly seen in gardens. Nest searching queens sometimes seen in February in South (and may be starting to nest in Autumn in some mild areas).

White Tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lucorum) male photographed June 2009

No. 3 – the Buff Tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

Queens, workers and males have a single yellow stripe on front of thorax, one on the abdomen (preceded by a black band). Tail is a dirty-white to buff colour, occasionally orange-red. Facial hair on male is black. Very large, robust species – workers are much smaller. Face as long as wide, tongue very short. Very little variation in colour in the UK-native population.

Workers easy to mix up with Bombus lucorum – although males & queens should be easy to ID.

A regular garden species. Not found in the far north & scarse in Scotland (although it’s moving north!). Nest-searching queens seen in February in the South (and sometimes in the winter).

Buff Tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) photographed June 2009

No 2 – The Red Tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)

Queens and workers have black head, thorax and abdomen with orange-red tail (less than 50% of total length of abdomen). Abdomen is longer than wide. Males have yellow facial hair, yellow bands on thorax, abdomen is black and orange-red tail. A large robust species – although workers are much smaller. Face as long as wide, tongue mid-length. The yellow colouring in the males varies – some have very little yellow banding. Very occasionally females have faint yellow banding.

Can be mistaken for Bombus ruderarius, Bombus lapidarius, Bombus rupestris – but if you look closely and compare you should be able to find differences.

Widespread and found in many habitats. Spreading into north-east Scotland.

Red Tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) male photographed June 2009

No 1 – The Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)

Queens, workers and males have two yellow bands on the thorax and one at the base of the abdomen. Tail is white. Males have black facial hair. A large, robust species – although early workers may be much smaller. Face is very much longer than wide, tongue is very long (which it unfolds as it approaches a flower to drink nectar). Some individuals can be very dark (almost black), but the tail usually remains white.

Similar to Bombus ruderatus (rare) and Bombus jonellus.

Widespread species found in gardens. However, it may not be frequent in some areas.

Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) photographed Sept 08

and the extra one? Well that’s a Cuckoo…. what’s a cuckoo? well it takes over the nest of another bumblebee – dirty rotter!

The Vestal Bumblebee (Bombus vestalis)

This species takes over the nest of the Buff Tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris).

Females & males have one dark-yellow stripe on the thorax, none on the abdomen. Tail is white, with clear dark-yellow side patches at the junction with the black. Wings usually dark-tinged. Male has black facial hairs. No workers. Large robust species. Face as long as wide. Tongue short.  This species is very variable in colour (especially males). Sometimes additional faint yellow band at base of abdomen.

Similar to Bombus bohemicus, but the yellow is lighter and side patches smaller in B. bohemicus.

Widespread. Found in many gardens in England & Wales. In South it’s the most commonly found cuckoo bee. Not known in Ireland and only recently recorded in Scotland. Host-searching females may be out in late March. New females & males may be seen resting on flowers from June to August.

Vestal Bumblebee (Bombus vestalis) photographed June 2009

Extra Information

Just in case you think I’ve turned into some kind of “bee guru” (I haven’t!), all the information in this post came from the invaluable little book “Field Guide to the Bumblebees of Great Britain & Ireland” by Mike Edwards and Martin Jenner (which doesn’t seem to be on Amazon at the moment, but is worth picking up if you can).

Another great source of information is BWARS and the Natural History Museum Bumblebee Reference Guide.

Bumblebees (and bees in general) are great insects to watch (and learn about).  I’ll try to do a general “bee” post later in the year.

I hope you find this post useful and have fun looking for (and photographing) your local Bumbles – I’d love to hear about any that you find!

The start of our walk – Steve tells people about the rusty reptile tins

By the time I got to the Urban Wildlife Centre at 10.30am the sun was shining again. It was going to be one of those days!

I was based in the Education Room with the “wildlife”. However due to the rubbish cold weather no one had been able to find any reptiles warming themselves under the tins nearby and the only small mammals were a pair of baby woodmice.

A snake of people walk out onto the heath

What we did have were the saviors! Two glorious buckets of water… one with pond water and the other with river water from the River Piddle (I love that name).  With pond dipping nets and some white trays Emma (one of our willing helpers) was able to find some great pond and river creatures. Mayfly nymphs, worms, snails, caddisfly larva – you name it we had it in those two buckets. We even managed to find three Newts!

With the help of a nifty bit of technology we were able to put a small drop of water on a dish and project some of these wonderful little creatures onto the screen of a computer at 200x magnification. Mosquitoes may be a pain in the butt (literally) in a summer evening but projected onto a screen, a mosquito larva is mesmerising.

Steve Davis telling us about the Smooth Snake

With live images from our Lorton Meadow kestrel nestbox and a local great-tit nest box projected onto the big screen at the end of the room, and lots of colouring in and activities for kids, it wasn’t long before we had some customers and the room soon filled with the sound of oooh’s and ahhhh’s, laughing and chatting.

At midday I was asked to help on one of the guided walks on Upton Heath (following up at the back to pick up the waifs and strays). The idea was to give people a better understanding of the heath and the habitats and wildlife it supports. It’s such a misunderstood place – and many people just think of it as “scruffy, untidy land”.

Steve Davis with the Smooth snake

So off we went with our “snake” of people, up onto the heath in strong wind but occasional sunshine. Steve, the leader, stopped along the way to give interesting heathy info, and he even found TWO smooth snakes(warming themselves under rusty tins placed strategically around the walk). These are our rarest snakes in the UK, so it was a real treat for people to see them. Only Steve could touch them (as you need to be licensed to handle them) but some people got pretty close views!

Eventually it was time to head back to the Centre, stuff ourselves with burgers and sausages from the BBQ, clear up and head for home. A great day. 100+ people through the door and hopefully a few more people going away with a better understanding of the heath, their local wildlife and the role that Dorset Wildlife Trust plays in helping to protect it.

Time to put my feet up!