RXwildlife Sightings

The red-tailed bumblebees in my nest box seem to be suffering.  At a time when numbers should be building up to a high level, there are few movements in and out of the nest.  This might be due to the moth larvae I referred to earlier, although the current drought seems to be impacting on their food supply with many of the flowers used by the bee in our area shrivelling up.

 Another resident in the nest box is the moth below, which scurries around the box when disturbed.

It is the brown house moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella Read the rest of this entry »

The small shallow pools on Harbour Farm have been shrinking at a fast rate during this hot and dry spell, in one pool large numbers of Common Darter larvae have been concentrated into the remaining water and for them it has been a race againgst time to emerge. At dawn over the past few days successfully emerged adults can be found covered in dew amongst the nearby vegetation. It has been interesting to note that during the warmer mornings of summer Common Darter can go through the emergence process in 1 hour 15 minutes, in mid May it took a Downy Emerald 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete the same process.

Shrinking pool on Harbour Farm Read the rest of this entry »