March 29, 2021 - informal survey

This week we've received our first extended period without nighttime negative temps. The days have been mixed ranging from highs of 8°C to a couple days at 18°C.
Today I had a chance to survey the biodiversity, mainly the insects, and although I couldn't catch them with my camera, I'd like to make a list for posterity and interest of what I saw.
Since the first resident of our bee hotel escaped his confinement last Wednesday, I began looking for BEES: I caught sight of a number of O. cornuta (or O. bicornis) of different sizes and colors checking and rechecking the few hyacinth and daffodil bulbs in bloom, and also noticed one that landed on our broccoli flowers and rocket flowers. There are plenty of chickweed(stellarium) around and a few violets, but not much more has bloomed yet for food. The orchard bees landed on our multicolor painted sign regularly to warm themselves in the sun. Some paler bees (possibly males, possibly another species) were chasing each other around some of the blooms. I also caught sight of a yellow and black wasp, medium sized, maybe a v. germanica or a polistes. We also had a short visit from a Bombus (lucorum group, probably)
Tiny ANTS on the newly planted apple,
For BUGS there were tiny black and orange lygus? bugs on the mustard, , and a european firebug making his way across the mulch.
BEETLES have appeared. Small black pastille shaped ones in the mulch that I've been trying to identify for years but are too fast for my camera. I followed a brown chafer with white speckles into the leaf mulch And a Harlequin Ladybug landed on my bike as I was leaving.
FLIES have been the only inhabitants for the last couple colder weeks, now in growing numbers especially around the compost: black flies, houseflies, blue-bottle flies. I also spotted some tiny black ones with wider heads than bodies. I caught site of a Marmelade Hoverfly near the herbs. Also, small numbers of those flies, similar to slow mosquitoes that swarm in small vortexes in the sun (midges?)
BIRDS are the usual: the blackbird pair, 3 great tits (2 more than usual), the pidgeons.
We had a large wolf spider last week, but I didn't check for others today.
For volunteer PLANTS, I couldn't identify so many at the young growth stage. Chickweed a-plenty, dead nettle, that dog violet, stinging nettle and the grass has grown a bunch. A surge of Bohemian Knotweed by the wall.

Posted on 29 de março de 2021, 11:04 PM by ikomposzt