Avian highligts over the past two days have included 200 Sandwich Tern and 280 Mediterranean Gull at Ternery Pool, 16 Avocet and 22 Knot along the shore, Harbour Farm pools attracted 20 Avocet, Little Ringed Plover and a Green Sandpiper. At Castle Water Common Buzzard, 4 Marsh Harrier, Bittern, 30 Little Egret, Little Ringed Plover, 18 Fieldfare, Goosander, Bearded Tit, Barn Owl and 2 Chiffchaff.
Sandwich Tern
Yesterday, Colin Boyd sent me a couple of pictures, taken in his garden in Sedlescombe on the 23rd of this month, with a request to identify the ‘passenger’ on this Andrena bee. I think I may have swore then, as this is an insect I have never seen alive in over 25 years as an entomologist! It is a male stylopid, a member of a small order of insects with a bizarre and complicated lifecycle. If you know where to look, there is also a female in this picture - the red blob at the end of the males abdomen is the tip of the legless, wingless and antennaless female with which he is mating! More information on stylopids can be found here.
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