Sunday morning - not an early start but at 8am, it wasn't that warm and I thought it was too early to look for some bees that Chris Barlow has been seeing lately on the patch (I was wrong it seems) - Sharp-tailed Bee
Coelioxys elongata and a leafcutter bee
Megachile versicolor, both of which have been hanging around the rotten post where I've been seeing the Ectemnius wasps. He also found Fork-tailed Flower Bees
Anthophora furcata nesting in the post.
So instead of going to check out the post, I had a look at the sea. There was a gang of folks camping on the beach and a handful of them were in the sea - butt naked! Each to their own I suppose? One of the juvenile
Cuckoos was still by the road with a hoard of 'toggers' on it.
I retreated to the post and track and left the nudists and the toggers to their own devices.
The
Fork-tailed Flower Bees were busy excavating holes in the rotten wood and my Ectemnius wasp was briefly on the post - I don't think it is identifiable to species.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWz7PTK_oblaU-0pKPfB5aWbV2h9R3PKxayVslgLweuJBuSrQmS8yow3xyH3JZdfUrQ4bfol58sUNc2fD_qqHI6YO54SiCe6PUIx4yE8KKJ_60JlQHRKNWvElQsWmoQ4MHnh5AT7wdoaN4/s640/_U8A9203.JPG) |
Fork-tailed Flower Bee Anthophora furcata Investigating a nest hole |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSqjuNGANdg8q9poZJtmtxYJuEKhOjeudm6yc2kXc61nB4RthNuadZ09pL8hunEym9U6hfT5WMQYSxpklOJF_vaJOseYFFaJzWsPf9gA_8_iepBvxQMPhLEodKcYvACy7g-uCL6wsX4Z72/s640/_U8A9178.JPG) |
Ectemnius wasp sp |
Chris had seen the sharp-tailed bees further down the path to the hides so I moved between the post and the brambles looking for them as the sun came and went. I didn't see them but there was plenty of other things to keep me occupied.
There were a few hoverflies out, mostly black and yellow wasp mimic types of the genus Syrphus and Eupeodes - both tricky to ID. I did find a new species for me and for the patch
Platycheirus rosarum.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvX9t5h-s-MLCm49F3hoAzuk6F_GbnmPMfwxQLsu1sGZNuEKpdcMwuVHDCedJbUfsKvkbWBF1jZdfhC-vTbjMOhq8YB-iNpHfHpPxOlQIa6WRIsqRw9rz5aCwrnCeQD_E3MTEzwlJkF-BI/s640/_U8A9185.JPG) |
Platycheirus rosarum. - new for the patch |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGoXege5gJWx_P1f9X7QBi3JnUc-NwoWpEMfBl_ZTQtc5nShxBTBpd8Y1KxtRxai9TrG23RxWPRPzqzxyK-Q6adJcJ8pzsior91rbwo_uCnUlUoKky8YwAXsmKH_qV69mL52yPRM3qco6j/s640/_U8A9168.JPG) |
Syrphus sp (male) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdLzDt326lpkN3nclQ84EPPT4lfN-vBEUWYArpvbEnZRYl7C8lgwUmGNxPD19FCatHJEFKlQx721Rm0XwUJXxyYi4UQvbE5UDTZadGB-sh4fhq08rKBEjfbiBdaNYl1ygEMDKrxwdUDIa-/s640/_U8A9196.JPG) |
Helophilus pendulus (male) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTB0P4Fwho2VF0K21q8rSoiptBxBFTwnai8OHKXTOlOiA8qmPBoJPClwR_nqrItLAiGQJyvz9-TnZ7iiCPFn-CJ__wBUmfKNKklwOb-CrjIp2ZI1YKDGYpGGVaEaGoLCOyCJlcCkwbOQrx/s640/_U8A9276.JPG) |
Eupeodes corollae (female) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbSnHcex4f6Mw516bLcWveKMHi582otyyRInOwAD36juC3VnN1blstqFr59NHk_xaC5JmMaokRyH1fI2NPAhzXzgtWjVCYmStjyZ_Zv1iR6xfqLC7caMPwldEjKI2X5xUhdXWPBFYO3QlG/s640/_U8A9262.JPG) |
Syrphus ribesii (female) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6_y4vBDbzKdY3zv2tRoaQsJSKOaOoq79hW33C6kVmBNxLJnilDdhnPywk9ICzWa_Cjx3j1KtFWtGVw3uv66T_Cv19Yy4CVcFJ7tmiHK32OztfqN7MoNzwJmj4fHHQgZqSLBym2p8-1ynp/s640/_U8A9286-Edit.JPG) |
Platycheirus albimanus (female) |
I also found these Gorse Shield Bugs nymphs hatching from their eggs - amazing little things.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitolNE_ML5UIi9AtAf-2F5TgjY5Y4oNhX_mWYzITmAvlk0Le_NLs3sybFBwshZ-ZZneqZ6pALTVKw9JGQJZj_sQpcVv7_yBEKRoc4BEqA5GPeTUjISffVDhV51MrzfHhbs0cLiBNnSCCVB/s640/Piezodorus+lituratus.JPG) |
Tiny Gorse Shield Bug Piezodorus lituratus nymphs hatching from eggs |
And this strange fly -
Sicus ferrugineus - It's larvae are endoparasites of bumble bees, they pupate and overwinter in their victims - nice!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhR13yBo5y9V-LQdxVTLjIBBeAYaiPJAACkInycuyRpJzw1osoCFDZCF9rvyteNnCjA7eLbjiWAqZpIQbF5R6UJj9_wqb32E7t3FHo5EOvugvNel7cCez6oPz51bzz5zguhQI_oCeWtzwD/s640/_U8A9193.JPG) |
Sicus ferrugineus |
Back to the post and still no sign of the bees but I did find a Blue Shield Bug nymph and a looper caterpillar which remains unidentified.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOuN6VFueO8qITBYvSFb5IwHZGOVpNaLBQW1Oh5YhrTXFeiO7cgnjOmmDyPKJy2hV1-Kj4d8YmVdWI0rRDyQx2ftj9d-gfZ7okWhBCHek__Bg5lBpC1GtGi0MXow55ZbXSQOS_Vpy8kMUC/s640/Troilus+luridus.JPG) |
Blue Shield Bug nymph (final instar) Zicrona caerulea |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8OJore6cCfH8GmPkCwJNBHL6DyU9T1ZvgPu8bZXhm1qsVgF0IizYQ_EjO6yDiJGU0i6EEVQhzmg84SY7bRH51cKPDbEIuLpNuv5DcawnMi_RkHmnWRWcb4ddW3jAMQ_NdQylNmhW1B_G7/s640/_U8A9227.JPG) |
Looper caterpillar to be ID'd |
I bumped into Bob Biggs who told me about
wood and common sandpipers from the Budge screen. Commons Sands are tricky these days with no edge to the big pool so I headed south through the bushes to see it.
On my way back to the car I saw these two interesting beasts in the grass.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPqYqsVrEgb7Yl4oqSXjTlziDEjbWDKzxb2HhAMfeovfABdN67IbHC8hWP7YtkSMB39YdytQv_j6bZ2f2O3Eb4osgTtXQlEg-sbudsuZVMYLFBqUKKcS0KU1ktoJY1sIHIBrX7NSnLo0-b/s640/_U8A9317-Edit.JPG) |
Non-biting midge species |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftUVS-5fn8ZJWi1KcoMrDAv1baEwDegZi6nAIOxBgO_KUjmzXwDEoBm0g403le8bvxu8P_l8l-RgxDJqIRhfyUKhVt0ULUP1Q9-kibc5dZ8Bzam8kZFPpXaKjrBVSAbpvcETzXWeTRE7D/s640/_U8A9322-Edit.JPG) |
Sciara hemerobioides - one of the dark-winged fungus gnats seemingly. Bonny thing! |
Chris was at the post when I got back, typically just as I headed off he had the sharp-tailed bee briefly on the post. I'll try for them again during the week.
Louise Hislop came up to see them and confirmed the Sharp-tailed Bee as new for the vice-county and the leaf cutter as new for the County. Well done Chris!
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