12/8/10: Bursted Woods Mining Bee identified as Dasypoda hirtipes

In my 6th August post I drew attention to the fact that I'd found Beewolf wasps in the midst of the mining bee colony on Erith Road, by Bursted Woods.

At the time I had not identified the bee itself. LNHS expert Tristan Bantock has confirmed from my photos that 'it is the very distinctive (Hairy-legged Mining Bee) Dasypoda hirtipes. Nothing else has such long hairs on the scopa. They do nest in aggregations and like fairly loose sandy soil, as does (the Beewolf)Philanthus, but I am surprised they are nesting (together)'.

The Beewolf does, however, specialise in catching Honeybees, so these Hairy-legged Mining Bees are unlikely to be under attack from their neighbours.

According to the Essex Field Club website : 'This mining bee occurs in southern Britain, and whilst still reasonably widespread and locally common on southern coastal dunes, it has declined significantly inland (Falk, 1991a). In Essex most records are from near the Thames. The bee is remarkable for the female's very large pollen brushes on the hind tibia. The species will form nesting aggregations in bare or sparsely vegetated sandy or other friable soils and females collect pollen exclusively from composites (Asteraceae) especially yellow flowered species such as ox-tongues Picris spp. and ragworts Senecio spp.'

Later (on 16th August) I counted the holes - not easy to do accurately without doing the job rather slowly, but my rapid' rough-and-ready-count' of holes with recent excavate (excluding holes flush with the surface which may be last years' holes and/or abandoned this) gave a total of 570 (yes, five hundred and seventy).

Some photos of the site and bees appear below.

For more information about the variety of bees, wasps and ants that can be found in the UK see the Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society website:

http://www.bwars.com/index.htm

Hairy-legged Mining Bee and Beewolf colony by Bursted Woods on Erith Rd, Barnehurst, looking towards Bexleyheath. The pale patches in the grass verge are excavated sand around nest hole entrances. Both are uncommon species.

Early in the day a lot of the bees sit with only the front part of their bodies poking out of their nest holes

Lucky shot of an incoming bee

Three-quarter rear view of female showing dense hairs on hind legs, used as 'paddles' to excavate sand from nest holes

Bee 'paddling' backwards to push more sand out of and away from the nest hole

6/8/10: Barnehurst Beewolfs and darting Dragonflies

An unsuccessful White-letter Hairstreak hunt in a new location today - but it's getting a bit late in the season and, although warm, it was somewhat overcast during much of the time I was out.

The 'failure' was made up for by finding 2 specimens of the Beewolf (Philanthus triangulum) amidst the big colony of Mining Bees on the sandy bank between Erith Rd and Bursted Woods in Barnehurst.

Part of the site (looking north) with about a third of the bee/wasp excavations in view.

I was watching one of the bees doing more excavation work when a white face appeared at the entrance to another tunnel. I only knew what it was thanks to the LNHS Bushy Park field trip last weekend (see 31/7/2010 post). The owner jiggled back and forth several times, with a bit more of itself coming out of the tunnel mouth each time before it eventually flew off, coming back later 'empty-handed'.

Philanthus triangulum has to date been regarded as rare, and its status given as vulnerable, RDB2, with its population concentrated in the south-east (originally only in sandy habitats in the Isle of Wight and Suffolk) with a scattered distribution north to Lancashire and Yorkshire. It is now being found more often and has been reported as exhibiting more catholic tastes in habitat than previously.

One of the Barnehurst Beewolfs ('blown up' from a mobile phone cam picture). This one had landed on some excavation material, and was fairly obliging - apart from positioning itself behind some bits of grass.

I also checked out the old Pitch and Putt area along the wood margin. To my mind the mowing regime could usefully be relaxed a bit, at least in patches. There was little for insects to nectar on, apart from scattered Yarrow - which doesn't seem to be used much. The bees seen were on a couple of Common Ragwort 'stunted' by mowing, a couple of patches of Black Knapweed which I hadn't recorded here before and a few Spear Thistles in the band of Bramble/Nettle along the edge of the wood.

The heavily mown 'amenity grassland' of the former Pitch and Putt course by Bursted Wood, Barnehurst, quite unnecessarily leaves far too little for our declining Bees to feed on

One of a couple of patches of Black Knapweed, a great bee plant, here flowering at only a few inches tall due to the mowing regime. With a bit more imagination, flexibility and maybe training of contractors, surely such plants could be worked around or uncut areas left for them to proliferate in, providing more interest for people and a better living for local wildlife ......

I was also intrigued to see, along this northern margin of the wood, no less than 6 Hawker Dragonflies constantly zooming around in the same area without any signs of aggression towards one another. Although I watched for some time, none landed and a positive ID was not possible. This behaviour is, however, said to be characteristic of the Migrant Hawker, one specimen of which I saw on the nearby Grasmere allotment site a few years ago.

Some time earlier, I had seen a Common Darter dragonfly perch on a dead branch on the south margin of the wood, by the road to the hospital.

31/7/10: Bushy Park: Beewolf, Wasp Spider and Mistletoe (bugs)

A London Natural History Society field trip with a largely entomological bent.

On the way down I noted quite a lot of White-flowered Buddleia beside the railway, especially just south of Wimbledon. (The other place where this is/was the case is between the tracks not far from Paddington station).

In Hampton Wick High Street there were a few Tree of Heaven saplings, Ground Elder, Ivy-leaved Toadflax, a Galinsoga sp. and Greater Celandine. There was a nice vertical run of Hart's-tongue Fern in an alcove on the railway bridge over Seymour Rd. A couple of 'escaped' Papaver (probably rupifragum) were also spotted.

Bushy Park, general view

The best area in Bushy Park for general invertebrates was one fenced off from the deer, allowing the grass to grow. Here were found:

- several Gatekeepers
- a Small Heath
- a copulating pair of Common Blues
- Silver Y
- Cinnabar Moth caterpillars
- lots of Burnet Moths

- 3 female Wasp Spiders, one with a male in its web

- Roesel's Bush Cricket

- Birch Catkin Bug
- Parent Bug (on Birch, sitting over its eggs)

There were a significant number of Hawthorns with Mistletoe on them, with a lot of these trees looking in a bad way. There was a bit on a Willow as well. After much persistence with a sweep net - and makeshift handle extension - LNHS bug expert Dr. Tristan Bantock managed to catch all four Bug species specific to Mistletoe, including Anthocoris visci, Hypseloecus visci and Pinalitus viscicola, as well as the Mistletoe pysllid (Cacopsylla visci).

Tristan Bantock poised to hunt Mistletoe bugs

Mistletoe on Hawthorn in Bushy Park

Elsewhere an Oak Bush Cricket and a Purple Hairstreak were swept.

On a compacted path we came across the nest holes of Philanthus triangulum, the Beewolf (the name of which put me in mind of films about WW2 U-boats ...) and saw several provisioning them with their paralysed bee prey. I had a great close-up view when a bee-laden female decided to land on my arm. Good photo of this species here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tristanba/4854994906/

There are a number of water courses and artificial lakes across the site.

Odonata seen were
- a Brown Hawker
- a Common Darter
- a Common Blue Damselfly
- Blue-tailed Damselflies
- a large number of (Large) Red-eyed Damselflies

3 small Common Toads were found in various places away from the water.

Plants included a lot of Skullcap at the water's edge, a single Trifid Bur-marigold, Greater Duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza) and the non-native floating Water Fern (Azolla filiculoides).

Greater Duckweed (the larger floating discs) amongst a smaller species

Birds here included a number of Egyptian Geese (one pictured below, with Canada Goose in the background).