A Common Solitary Bee

I was out searching for Green Hairstreaks again at Roughdown on Monday. Spotted 4 but also came across one of the solitary bee species present on site. I think this one is Andrena nitida.

The main ID features are the “bright, foxy-brown hair on the thorax and a polished black abdomen (see insert A). Females have thin apical side-bars of white pubescence on abdominal segments 1-3 (just visible in insert C), and males have copious white facial hair, especially on the clypeus.” This is a female so minimal facial hair (insert B).

It likes open grassland habitat and doesn’t need or prefer bare earth sites for nests. It’s fairly common throughout southern Britain and present from April until June.

I did note a Nomada species fairly close by but didn't get a good enough view. These are "cuckoo bees" targeting the nest sites of Andrena mining bee species. Like Cuckoos, they don’t bother to create their own nests and provide for their young. Instead, they parasitise the nests of mining bees, laying their eggs in the “cells provisioned by the host bee. When the cuckoo bee larva hatches it consumes the host larva's pollen ball, and, if the female kleptoparasite has not already done so, kills and eats the host larva.” Nice!

A bit late adding this observation but, along with the other more common butterfly species now emerging, a male Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) was also around Lower Roughdown last Thursday 23rd.

Has it snowed? No, it's the Blackthorn blossom!

In my previous post about the cowslips, I was looking forward to the golden dust that lights up lower Roughdown Common at this time of year, but the dry weather has meant they aren't fully out yet on the field, though a few are visible.

The sloe bushes are a mass of frothy white.

Below them are areas sheltered from the wind and damper so this is where I find the cowslips  flourishing. 

I have often seen rabbits there, bouncing in and out of the hedgerow, and there is evidence of a predator with a sad pile of pigeon feathers by the hedge.

Green Hairstreaks

At Lower Roughdown, I was really pleased to come across a couple of the rare Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi) butterflies today. The colony was found last year by a dedicated butterfly surveyor and it is wonderful that they bred and made it into a second year. Purely by chance, I managed to photograph both specimens. One had noticeable scuff marks across the underside of the right forewing.

Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi), specimen 1, Lower Roughdown

Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi), specimen 1, Lower Roughdown

Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi), specimen 2 (scuff marks on right underwing), Lower Roughdown

Another lovely butterfly to see today was a female Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus). I only saw one at Roughdown Common last year and, in 2013, only 2 were recorded on the butterfly survey. In the hours that I was on site today, it only settled once and briefly, so I had to be very quick to grab photographs!

There were at least 2 Willow Warblers, 4+ Chiffchaff & 3+ Blackcaps all singing close by. In the chalk bowel, there was a Willow Warbler and a Chiffchaff and both had very odd songs, as if trying to add a little of the other's song into their own. I didn't have the time to wait and record them, unfortunately - one for another day or someone else to investigate. There were a couple of Mistle Thrush pairs, one adult from each pair was busy collecting worms, presumably for young.

Wild flowers and butterflies 9th April

Yesterday I was disappointed because the cowslips on Roughdown have only just begun to show their leaves. I'll have to wait a few more weeks for the highly anticipated yellow carpet of blooms. But here's a beautiful specimen I found in the sheltered quarry of lower Roughdown.

Throughout the woods and on the 20 metre strip that borders the A41 the violets are in full bloom. Another annual treat to see that special spring colour before the ferns and nettles hide them.
Primroses twinkle in the shadows of the woods and all over the quarry slopes where we cleared the dogwood last year.

The bees are very excited by the pulmonaria or lungwort in the quarry too

. I'm not sure if this is a native plant but it is extremely popular with the insects and very colourful.

As well as bees of many kinds, there are lots of butterflies waking from their winter sleep and dancing in the glades.

 The hawthorn buds are just opening to tempt the bees.

The brilliantly coloured Peacock and the Comma are instantly recognisable.

Cowslips

Spring again! Looking for Cowslips on Roughdown and hoping they are as good as last year...

Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) feeding on Cowslip (Primula veris).

Cowslips (Primula veris).