Day 41: Red-tailed Bumblebee

The luxuriously black, velvety thorax and abdomen, finished with a deep orange-red tail make the red tailed bumblebee a wonderful insect to see. This is the second queen of this species I have spotted in the garden, but the first was far too fast too photograph. This individual seemed content to sit on the sunny fence to have a spruce up, diligently cleaning her antennae as pictured. 

Queens of this species are partial to gorses, dandelions and various Prunus species, amongst others, whereas workers love, for example, clover, birds-foot trefoils and St John's wort. Another reason to let lawns flourish with dandelions and clovers. 

We do have an abandoned mouse nest in the 'lawn', and as this is a ground nesting species who often use old burrows, I wonder whether we will be lucky enough for a queen to decide that our little garden is the place for her to nest? If so, the colonies can grow to contain 300 workers!

References:

Falk, S. (2015) Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/invertebrates/bees-and-wasps/red-tailed-bumblebee (accessed 03/05/2020)

Day 40: Garden Snail

The last few days of wet weather has certainly awoken the snail and slug population that lurks under pots, leaves and rocks in our garden. This garden snail (which I'm hoping I've correctly identified, it seems there are more species of snail in the UK than I realised...), whose shell does look rather battered, was making a break for it across our patio. Admittedly, like most gardeners, I get cross if my plants get obliterated by snails and slugs overnight, but have come to accept that this is just a part of gardening for wildlife. They are also providing a food source for the hedgehogs, and, since the hedgehogs arrived in the garden, there has certainly been less damage to plants. 

This group of molluscs are also interesting in their own right, whether it be the foot they move upon with its rippling muscles visible through glass, or their toothed radular they use to eat, or the fact they are hermaphroditic 

I left this snail be to carry on with its journey, whether that be to munch on my heuchera leaves, as often happens, or whether it ends up as a midnight snack for our hedgehog visitors.

References:

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/other-garden-wildlife/insects-and-other-invertebrates/worms-slugs-spiders/garden-snail/ (accessed 02/05/2020)

Day 39: Dandelion

The golden dandelion, lighting up lawns, verges, pavements... any where it can lay its roots. Time and time again, we are told how pollinators use these much maligned wild flowers as an essential source of nectar and pollen, and yet time and time again, gardeners and councils try to obliterate them where they dare to shine. John Clare described them as "fallen stars in a green sea of grass" in his poem A Rhapsody, so why can't more of us see the dandelion in this light? Those awful adverts still appear on TV where they depict 'evil' cartoon dandelions being heroically removed by a gardener with weedkiller, but surely it is time we stopped showing these misleading roles. What is the worst thing a dandelion is going to do if growing in a lawn, park or playground? 

Worryingly, in trying to search for a paper I read some time ago that suggests dandelion pollen lacks certain nutrients and may be poor quality if fed to bee larvae alone, I came across a slogan that stated 'Save the Bees, Remove Dandelions'. Whilst it may be true that dandelions alone won't save our dwindling insect population, we do need to include them in a more diverse ecosystem that we can encourage in our gardens and parks. Using pesticides of any sort is certainly not going to help, due to the many, now well documented effects many have on the nervous system of pollinators. Caterpillars of some butterfly and moth species will use dandelions as a food plant, so we must also consider insects other than pollinators (or at least different stages of their life cycle).

Perhaps if we shifted views to seeing dandelions as a wild flower, rather than a weed? Or perhaps if we shifted the obsession so many of us still seem to have with keeping a perfect lawn? Or at least try to become more tolerant of allowing the boundaries to blur between a 'perfect garden' and 'nature'. Indeed, my perfect garden would encourage as much wildlife in as possible, and I try to.

References:

https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/plant-fungi-species/dandelion (accessed 02/05/2020)

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/07/what-do-caterpillars-eat/ (accessed 02/05/2020)

Day 38: Starling

The starlings arrived today, Wednesday 29th April. I'm always happy when these colourful characters return, even if the photo above doesn't do them justice, taken through the window, in the rain, as it was. Like a few other of our avian garden visitors, a small flock of starlings arrive in spring, stay with us whilst they breed, often bringing fledglings to the garden with them, then disappear again come the summer. On our daily walk, we also heard one calling in its clicking-whistling voice and, having not heard them here for almost a year, couldn't place it until we spotted in sitting on a roof.

These birds have a clown-like side to them, and when they turn up in a gang, which they inevitably end up doing, they squabble and bicker and make such a racket. This one, however, visited alone today, probing the wet grass for worms and other delicacies. I think it turned up a slug in the picture above, and happily flew away with its prize. According the the RSPB, they are still one the most common birds found in gardens, so I'm not quite sure why they don't stay with us throughout the rest of the year. However, I look forward to their antics for the couple of months we have the pleasure of them for.

Day 37: Erigeron karvinskianus 'Stallone'

Between rain showers, I snapped a few photos of the Erigeron, or Mexican fleabane, that has suddenly burst into flower in our front garden. I find the flowers of this wiry plant rather cheerful as I approach the house, especially on rainy days like today. Daisy-like in appearance, the petals start out pale pink and become white as they mature with bright yellow centres. As the season goes on, these flowers will again become pink, even close to magenta, in colour.

Not native, but branded with the 'plants for pollinators' logo by the RHS, I find this plant a good nectar stop-gap. It will flower almost continuously from now until autumn, providing nectar for a range of insects. The type of insect I see visiting most often is hoverflies, but I have also seen small bees use the flowers too.

This particular variety is supposed to only grow to a height of 20 cm and spread of 45 cm, but this plant has already exceeded these measurements. It is recommended to cut Erigeron back to ground level in autumn, but I never have with this one, and it still seems quite happy.

References:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/32487/Erigeron-karvinskianus/Details (accessed 30/04/2020)

Day 36: Blueberry

A new addition to the 'kitchen garden' this year, a blueberry shrub planted in a large pot on our patio, alongside the other fruits and vegetable we try to grow. I enjoy blueberries, but have never attempted to grow them before. It might sound strange, but I hadn't thought about, or realised what blueberry flowers looked like at all. Barely noticeable individually, these sweet white tiny flowers, a little smaller than a fingernail, form in groups. They are similar to small bells, with the stamen visible in the centre, surrounded by the crimped petal edges.

I have seen various bumblebees visit the flowers, but the common carder bee seems to favour it the most. Fingers crossed for lots of fruit later in the summer.

Day 35: Jay

This photo won't win any prizes, but we had an unusual garden visitor on day 35, this colourful jay tucking into a fat cake. These corvids have been very active when on our daily walks and they can often be seen gliding and screeching their way between the large oak trees nearby, but they very rarely visit the garden.

There always seems to be something special about seeing a jay, more so than other members of their intelligent family, perhaps it is their colouring, or perhaps it is just that we see them less frequently. Finding a jay feather, with the various shades of blue sported in its wings, is always a treasure worth keeping.

Occasionally, we find oak saplings growing in our front garden, and I often wonder whether these are thanks to the jays or squirrels forgetting part of their winter hoard.