May 2023

insectsandflight.com

all pictures © robin williams

May 2023: wildlife, from the Somerset Levels

May 24th 2023. It was very warm, so found myself sitting on a chair on the Walnut tree area, semi-dozing. But there were a few insects moving through the herbs and grasses, so out came the camera. The most interesting insect was the Nomada fabriciana, very active in its searches. Why was this? Because its host, Andrena bicolor, or the few other possibles, have not been seen anywhere in the garden. How fortunate to get one in flight.

cuckoo bee, Nomada fabriciana

mining bee, Lasioglossum calceatum f

hoverfly, Syrphus vitripennis f

May 23rd 2023. There were still no insects on the border surrounding the terrace, in spite of it being hot, with little breeze. But, the 'flats' have at last started to show a few fresh, active inhabitants. All are males as might be expected, so they were as active as they might be zig-zagging around, darting from one potential nest hole to another, in non-stop searches for the elusive first females to emerge - not for some while.

May 19th 2023. Another perfect day. This time I spent most of the morning on a chair on the walnut tree lawn, a patchy, imperfect mixture of grasses previously known for it population of Lasioglossum calceatum nesting in their typical miniature 'volcanos'. I was not disappointed either, there were several species present, though only one specimen of the former.

mining bee, Lasioglossum calceatum f

The brilliantly-coloured flower is that of thrift, Armeria maritima, found in a single pot on the terrace. What a splendid background to the insects. It becomes a picture instead of just another portrait.

mining bee, Lasioglossum zonulum f,

mining bee, Lasioglossum zonulum f, on thrift

The remaining pictures were taken on the wild unkempt area we call the walnut tree lawn. It is a mass of herb species and is the area most likely to find ground nesting insects. It varies from year to year in the intensity of nests. The larger volcano-like nests are mostly those of one species, Lasioglossum calceatum. The remaining nests are entirely hidden beneath the herbage and I suspect hold numbers of different bee and wasp species, together with their cuckoos or parasites. There is only one way to search for and take pictures; sit down on a comfortable garden chair and keep your eyes open. I never thought there was anything there in my more impatient days, when insects were far more numerous and you were spoilt for choice. Then came a time when I was forced to rest and be careful for a while and by happy coincidence, sat here - the rest is history. This morning it was very warm and the insects were extremely active. I suspect many were males whose mode for existence depends on constant movement, searching for emerging females. Identification is always a problem. I make a deal of use of alternative measurement, looking at the image and measuring the leaves of the plants seen in the picture. This is an accurate process if carried out fairly immediately, when it is possible to identify current plants. I have also built up a number of comparative tables for mining bees likely to be found in this area. These show flight times, leg and overall colouring and other significant items. It is often possible to use these to identify to one or two species or even single ones using these, together with vital sizing. This latter may well be the most important feature, together with flight times.

mining bee, Lasioglossum fratellum f

mining bee, Lasioglossum nitida f

mining bee, Andrena nitida f

hoverfly, Syritta pipiens

The final picture shows the first insect to appear on the flats this year; far, far later than usual. I had to rebuild the flats last winter, which may have had some effect. Many logs were disintegrating and had to be replaced but I tried to shape it the way it was previously but clearly something went wrong. It appears there may be something wrong with our garden as well. Fiona lives nearby, and has a small bee house installed in a similar position to a sister-house on our hot, south-facing wall. Her's has a host of Osmia mason bees nesting; not one such insect has approached mine to date, nor have we seen Osmia anywhere in the garden, it used to be the commonest.

digger wasp, Crossocerus elongatulus

May 18th 2023. Continuing baking weather - Spring is with us, even if at the very end of it's actual period. I spent a considerable time sitting by the terrace, hoping for a bounty of insects, but this was not to be. There has been a dearth of insects for some time now. The Spring flowers have died away and been replaced by little else; a poorly planned succession which must be addressed for another year.

mining bee, Lasioglossum lativentre f

bumblebee, Bombus pascuorum

hoverfly, Syritta pipiens f

dung-fly, Scathophaga stercoraria

May 17th 2023. The second invertebrate meeting was held at Great Breach Wood on the Poldens; grey at first. but turning into another beautiful day. Only three of us were able to attend, which was a shame as it was a fine outing: John Mason, our co-ordinator, daughter Fiona. and I, but that did not interfere with our enjoyment. We knew where to go. The first part of the walk into the wood yielded little, just a sea of conifers and an occasional pile of recently-cut logs. But we were aiming for the conserved woodland with its open meadows. This did not fail us, even though the number of insects had not reached its real time. Eventually we reached our first point, a grassy, herbal meadow carved out of the woodland. Two or three of these were planned when the reseve was first taken over, years ago, together with work on removing or thinning the confers. This particular area is spectacularly successful. It was covered in Cowslips, together with other flowers such as speedwell, Bugle and vetchs. But, once again, there were not that many insects present, though all the sighns there ought to have been. There were probably more bumblebees than we were able to spot as they were moving particularly quickly in the warmth. My eye was not truly in for this today. We ended up eating our sandwiches sitting on a log spanning a dry ditch, vry comfortable and full of anecdotes. as usual. Fiona and I turned round and went home at this point, as I was due a visit to the dentist to remove a tooth later on. A most enjoyable meeting as far as we were concerned. John went on afterwards, I presume, to see the open edge of the reserve with its very different inhabitants.

Cowslip, Primula vera

hoverfly, Meredon equestris m

hoverfly, Epistrophe diaphana

hoverfly, Anasimiyia spp.

tiny pollen beetles in eye of Dandelion

sailor beetle, Cantharis rustica

bumblebee, Bombus pascuorum w on Bugle

May 13th 2023. People may notice that the the website looks different. The appearance has been altered, with the aim of making the text easier to read on the various possible platforms. Recent events made me examine the whole in more detail as the review made its way through the pages.

May 11th 2023. It has been a traumatic period following the remarks made on the 2nd of the month. Photopad Image Editor, from NCH, gave excellent results for action shots, but was prone to over-sharpening and other problems by way of the extensive correction aids, I came to the conclusion that I ought to have another go at Nikon NX Studio via their help system; my old Capture NX2 Nikon system had given me all that could be desired. It was such a blow when Nikon made it impossible to continue using that system, substituting NX Studio. At first, it appeared an adequate replacement; then I started to query it's absolute sharpness. At this point, total disaster struck. Any picture files older than current activities proved un-openable. A logo appeared on each file, together with a statement that it could not be opened. The file was present, but was useless for its end purpose. I was devastated; tens of thousands of pictures were effectively lost to me, many decades of work. Not only were the working files lost but previously working backups, were affected in the same manner. I watched the files corrupting in front of me in real time. To cut a long and tedious situation short, after around a week I suggested downloading Studio again. I was then told that a new version had just arrived' I downloaded it and, miracle of miracles, I watched the files reverting to their old state in real time, file by file, the logo vanishing and pictures becoming visible once more. I thought this was because of the new version but Nikon told me that this should have had no effect, quote -

'The difference between NX Studio version 1.3.1 and 1.3.2 is an adjustment in the export function of files and its color profiles. Its not related to this matter...The Windows OS on your computer is updated regularly and can sometimes interfere with installed programs. To address the cause of what happened is difficult to pinpoint, but I can assure you that Nikon would never release a version that is not "doing what it should".

So it will remain a mystery, but if something had not happened at that moment, I would have lost most of my life's work - a frightening thought. The pictures that follow are entered using NX Studio, to see how it's new version performs. At this time, there are very few insects in the garden, these few were found after an extensive search, but should indicate how effective the program is. For all that, I still miss the final version of Capture NX2 that seemed to meet all requirements so perfectly.

mining bee, Lasioglossum calceatum f

bumblebee, Bombus pascuorum w

dung-fly, Scathophaga stercoraria

muscid fly, Muscidae

May 3rd 2023. At last we appear to be seeing the effects of Spring, though well delayed, not consistent. It was the day of the first of the Somerset Invertebrate group meetings. We met at Loxley Wood on the Poldens, a universal favourite for the early part of the year. Bluebells were still in abundance, though already going over - a short-lived spectacle as always. The very last of the Wood anemones Anemone nemorosa were to be seen in tiny patches; sadly the path had been very muddy and difficult earlier when they were in their full glory, so we missed our favourite period this year. These pictures were all corrected in Photopad Image Editor, good on the web but difficult to control for effects.

Bluebell, Endymion non-scriptus

Wood anemone, Anemone nemorosa

John M. is organising the meetings once again and Ron W., Una G, Chris and Katy H. and I, turned up for this one. We walked up the central track until we reached a muddy patch that I could not contemplate, though the others offered to lug me over. I turned back and ate my sandwiches by the side of a promising-looking patch of flowers. The others went on and explored much of the remaining paths. It was warm and sunny, sheltered from the breeze by the surrounding woodland. I left a fairly vital camera strap that helped steady the outfit behind but managed to take some reasonable pictures of bee-flies, though one or two of which could have been steadier. I chose the right place for lunch, it was a hot-spot for these flies. The result was a whole series of pictures covering much activity. The pictures make them seem large, but they are mostly very small, under, 10mm excluding their proboscis, often just a flicker out of the corner of the eye. The colour of individuals varies from chestnut tones to a greyer hue - perhaps an indication of age?

bee-fly, Bombylius major

There were many butterflies in the woodland edges, recently hatched, immaculate. Many of these were Holly blue, such a beautiful colour in the strong sunlight. Apart from those, I spotted a couple of Nomada cuckoo bees, but not present in the numbers expected at this time of year. I was unable to identify them from the momentary glimpses. A couple of hoverflies were interesting but I failed to take decent pictures of the several sawflies spotted, with one exception, Arge cyanocrocea.

Holly blue butterfly, Celastrina argiolus m

hoverfly, Pipiza noctiluca f

hoverfly, Xylota sylvarum f

May 2nd 2023. I went out into the garden today with the intention of taking a trial set of pictures, using a new program to open and process the picture files. I have used various versions of Nikon NX, culminating in NX2, all of which suited my needs perfectly. producing sharp, noise-free files. Eventually, as is the way of the world, Nikon literally shut NX2 down and substituted NX Studio. The appeared to be fine and easy to use - though quite different. However, recently, I have had some doubts about the quality of the output, so decided to try another system, Photopad Image Edition by NCH. My first impression is that it produces good, punchy pictures for use on the website.

bumblebee, Bombus pascuorum

bumblebee, Bombus hortorum

hoverfly, Rhingia campestris m