Thursday 24 April 2008

Avalanche

A few warm days and suddenly everything bursts forth: bees and hoverflies can be seen and heard as they go about their business of gathering pollen or hunting for nesting places.

I spotted this Common Carder Bumblebee - Bombus pascuorum - on Dandelion. I watched her nectaring for a little while and when I got back to the computer I saw that her pollen basket was empty and looked to be in pristine condition. I'd like to think this was her maiden flight, and she was nectaring for energy before commencing her season's work filling those baskets.
The 22-spot ladybird - Psyllobora (Thea) vigintiduopunctata - is a little unusual in that they are herbivores. Well, that's how they're classified, but since they only eat mildews on dead or dying leaves, I rather think they are fungivores. These are quite tricky to find as they are usually deep in vegetation and are only around 3mm long. This one was on my car.

1 comment:

Gill said...

Wonderful pics, especially that ladybird close-up.