Red Longhorn Beetle - Stictoleptura rubra male and female

It’s bad enough trying to identify Bumblebees without finding Beetles at the sametime – this is my attempt at identifying the following but it’s suppose to be uncommon in the North UK. The first image I took last week in my parents garden and forgot about it and then my Father showed me the following  3 photos which he had taken a few days later.  It was only on closer inspection that I realised they were probably a male and female of the same species (female being the fist image).

White- tailed bumblebee - Bombus lucorum

Pretty confident that this is a male White-tailed Bumblebee, mainly because it is the only one I can find reference to that has a hairy yellow face.

Woundwort Shieldbug - Eysarcoris fabricii

Armed with stool, walking stick and bucketfuls of painkillers I made my first venture out of the garden with Wayne this morning in the hope(in our dreams) of bumping into a  Two-Barred Crossbill as you can imagine no Crossbills or at least Two-Barreds were seen but we did finally come across a known patch of one of my favourite plants Herb Paris which I had been dying to see and in the same area we found this Woundwort Shieldbug 4th instar, now I sound like an expert but in reality I just googled it and have never heard the tem “instar” before but presumably it’s an early stage of adulthood!  On the bird front today we have seen a Red Kite, Med Gull, Yellow Legged Gull, 2 Whimbrel, 565 Avocet on the humber and 2 Common Crossbills over the garden.

Herb Paris

Now I have discovered an urge in me to identify all Bumblebees in the garden I find myself looking further a field, the trouble is the more I try to identify them the more confused I get.  I’m not even going to attempt these two except to say I think the first is a Cuckoo and the second a Social - I really need an expert so if anyone out there …….

Bombus Bohemicus?

I am continuing in my quest to identify all the Bees coming into the garden and gosh is it difficult - I have tried using an assortment of websites to help but have found these to be rather confusing and felt the need to have a good old fashioned book as reference, so off to my nature loving neighbour Sheila I went who I knew would have a book and yes she had just the one that seems to be “the one” to have, - Field Guide to the Bumblebees of Great Britain and Ireland by Mike Edwards and Martin Jenner.  So with book in hand I think all the images below are of Bombus Bohemicus and what I shock as it isn’t a true social bee but a parasitic Cuckoo-Bee commonly known a Gypsy Cuckoo-Bee.  But I could be completely wrong so hopefully someone out there will put me on the right track.. Double click on image to make larger!

Common Carder Bumblebee

Or at least I think so, these look paler than the ones in the garden earlier in the week but from articles I have read they turn silvery with age! Roll on the Bird Fare http://www.birdfair.org.uk/ when I can get a good field guide in the meantime it’s very much guess work as all the web sites just confuse me.

Notes from the garden....

Having the garden has been my saviour over the last ten months since bring struck with sciatica and it is amazing the number and variety of species our small garden hosts on a daily basis.  The pond has a big part to play and this week we have been visited by Brown Hawker one of the largest dragonflies and two species of damselfly, Large Red and Blue Tailed.  On the butterfly front we have had small numbers of Ringlet, Meadow Browns, Tortoiseshell, 1 Large Skipper and 1 Comma.  I am continuing to try to identify the Bumblebees and we are currently being mesmorised  by a colony of Red Tailed Bumblebees which have taken over one of our nest boxes apparently there can be as many as 200 in a nest.  Then there are of course the birds, July is always a quiet time in the garden but this week we had a mixed flock of 72 Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long Tailed and Coal Tits pass through, one if not the largest flocks we have ever had and yesterday afternoon we had two Crossbills and a Yellow Wagtail fly over.  We have daily displays of Common Buzzard and a female Marsh Harrier went through last week and a Hobby often plays havoc with our resident flock of House Martins.  A pair of one of my favourite birds is frequently feeding on the Honeysuckle at the bottom of the garden - Bullfinches, they have nested in the park this year and it is always a delight when they visit but the  birds I am most happy about is the pair of Spotted Flycatchers - I have previously reported that they built a nest in the Park but that it was predated however they have rebuilt in the same box and this morning one of the birds was sitting so fingers crossed they will be successful second time round.

Finally we now have two LongEared bats visiting the garden each evening again they are feeding around the Honeysuckle picking off the moths which are feeding on the flowers - we are predicted another hot week so we will hopefully putting the moth light on this week so fingers crossed we can get an Eyed Hawkmoth before the bats!

Ps if you can get to Normanby Park soon do so just to smell the Lime Trees, they are flowering at the moment and the smell is just divine.

Bumblebee identification

As I am confined to the garden I am trying to photograph and identify all the Bumblebees so here’s my attempt which more than likely is wrong so please correct me if you know which species it really is.

White- tailed bumblebee  Bombus lucorum

Tree Bumblebee

Common Carder Bumblebee

Privet Hawkmoth and Pine Hawkmoth

As promised caught in the moth trap last night a new garden tick for the Privet and a second record for the Pine.

Privet Hawkmoth

Pine Hawkmoth 

Comma Butterfly

For anyone wondering why a Comma is so named, well here’s why - there’s a comma on the underwing! Should have some good images later when we open the moth trap up - have already had a sneak and can see two fabulous hawkmoths one of which is a new garden tick - the Privet and also in there a Pine Hawkmoth - pics to follow. Wayne has gone up to the Yorkshire Moors today in search of Golden Ringed Dragonflies so should also have pics of them - I’m in the garden with my chronic Sciatica anyone found a cure yet!