Dinner At Dandelion's

Not being a native English speaker I was pronouncing the name of this lovely yellow flower (it's not a weed, its a herb ... ) incorrectly:

My version was: Dan-de-lion (as in 'leon'). Does sound a bit like an Italian Restaurant, no? ;)

Although sunny, there was a chilly breeze in the morning and some of the bees struggled a little with take off and where generally fairly slow moving. I picked a spot behind a stone wall to shelter from the cold wind and also the have a more or less wind still set up. I didn't have to wait for long and the dandelions became very busy.

I have for now stopped trying to ID all the different bees ... mason bees, mining bees, solitary bees, bees bees bees ... It's great to see so many out today. I even spotted the odd honeybee but they seem, like last year, a fairly rare sight. Hopefully, as summer approaches, the sightings will increase. 

For now I am happy to spend time with these little chaps here.

As it was still quite early and the ground still damp from morning dew, the slugs were busy devouring dandelions. Apparently, they do have very fine teeth, but I didn't manage to capture them with my camera.

 

Nom nom ... 

 ... mmmmmm ... 

 ... clearly irresistable!

 The 'left overs' once the slug has disapeared ...

As always at weekends, the area nearby is busy with walkers (mostly dog walkers) and althought I prefer to have 'privacy' when photographing, sometimes a spot of interest is right next to the public footpath.

Not only was I shadowed by the claves who were all to keen to remind me just how sticky their tounges are, I was also greeted by various dogs who wondered whether I was friend of foe when they found me crouching over some dandelions in the middle of the field.

One gentleman this morning was most inquisitive and we had a pleasant converstion. And the end of it he wanted to know why I am taking these photographs .... a good question which I shall respond to here when I have a little more time. 

Another Sunny Day In The Grazing Fields

It has been a busy few days and I have not had many opportunities to go exploring with my camera. The weather also wasn't all that great except for yesterday's hot sunshine. But it brough along some strong winds so my 'adventures' were all based around stones and well, dung, still.

When I go out with my camera I don't go out with the intent of getting THE perfect shot etc. Not any more. I no longer go out there with any intention, I just want to be and observe. I usually pick a spot where I will remain for some time and there I will just wait and see. It never takes long for something  small to arrive. 

With horses and cows nearby, I am also still 'studying' piles of dung. While the cow pads are quite busy, the horse droppings are even more loved by insects. And we have another helper keeping the pasture clean: the rooks. They are probably catch the dung beetles because the rooks are pulling the droppings apart while hunting for them. After just a day, all that is left are small heaps of dry 'fluff', almost as light and airy as cotton wool. 

I will add details of my observations with regards dung on grazing fields here (a page on this blog) 

Other creatures that crossed my path:

The bumblebee.

The dung beetle - here a variation of the species - a beetle with poor flying abilities.

In between the rain - one day hot summer, the next almost winter ...

Shrek - hiding behind a stone! ;)

The snails are 'back' - A dedicated page soon to follow ...

So difficult to spot: Thistle Tortoise Beetle.

As the name hints: Mostly found the (spear) thistles.

Spider busy with Semaphore / hand-signaling (fang-signaling) ...  

For some time now have I been trying to get decent macro shots of these tiny spiders to busily crawling over stones. Yet I struggle with the focus of the camera as their face is all black and there is no reference point that is visible enough for me to see if the little guy is in focus or not. I shall keep trying though because their behaviour too is most amusing.

When they become irritated (which doesn't take a lot!) by the camera lens or other spiders, they begin a funny set of warning moves which remind me of the guy on a ship giving hand signals to fellow crew members. It takes up a posture of great self-importance ... lifting the right fang, then the left, then both, then it pulls them back in and shakes, then it begins again with the right fang, left, both, ....

If it is really aggravated, this will be accompanied by suitably intimidating leg movements. They are great little chaps ... and so fierce. :)

A taste of Summer & Cow Pads

With the hot sunshine, all the buzzes and crawls was out and about.

Slowly but surely, the variety of insects present is increasing. I did not have a lot of time to take photographs today but managed to take a few snapshots near the house.

House fly (possibly Phaonia subventa) enjoying honesty flower.

Tiny mining bees are present in large numbers ... 

... and are very busy. Sometimes its hard to see them when they are all covered in pollen, burying themselves deep inside the dandelions.

And of course the dock beetles ... I went to visit one of my favourite corners in one of the nearby grazing fields; was very busy and the dock plants were covered with these little green (and sometimes also red-ish) jewelles were glistening in the sunlight.

These little beetles are always entertaining (I have created a separate page on this blogs just for these little guys). They don't mind my presence at all. I wonder if they perhaps have bad eyesight? Most other beetles make a run for it when the camera lens appears closeup.

And then ... there are the cow pads!

The calves are back in the neighbouring grazing fields and with that returns a fantastic object for observation: the cow pad.  

Previously the only time I would give any notice to a caw pad was when I stood into one by accident. However, today I noticed a strange assembly of flies in one of these pads so I went to investigate ...

... and I found these house flies all huddled together. I watched them for a while trying to work out what they were doing. My guess is that the top 2 flies were protecting the rest while they were laying  their eggs. 

.

... and here we have the little chap, the dung beetle. They are an important part of our grazing pastures and help keep the grazing fields clean.

However, these helpful little beetles are in decline worldwide, partly due to overuse of wormer and other pesticides as well as changes in pasture management.

There I was, on my knees and elbows, studying a cow pad. And duly, it was full with holes and different species of dung beetles were busy coming out of one whole, only to quickly disappear down another. It was a very busy cow pad!

And it also seemed a great spot for mating ... covered in bright yellow-orange dung flies all busily mating. It seems a short affair for them and they hop on and off a female within seconds, just to go and visit another ... its all very matter of fact with these flies.

I prefer the spiders's way ... where the male brings gifts so that he might not get eaten ... I say 'might'  ... 

 One of the countless of dungflies ... 

A special mention to the providers of my recent object of study: the calves. 

'Hello ... what are you doing down there?'

They are very inquisitive and this can be a little tricky when I am hunched over some bug on a stone because they like to come up really close. I am sure many of you readers have had the experience of a sticky cow tongue investigating your clothes or bare arms ... 

I am sure over the next few days we will get used to each other. :)

Sit Still, Don't Move

The warm sun is just too inviting to remain indoors!

It was time for a quick lunch break. As I didn't have too much time I went into the fields next door. There is a favourite spot where the stonewall has crumbled long time ago.

The stones are already warmed by the sun. I pick one of the stone as seat and make myself comfortable. It takes a while for the eyes to adapt to seeing nature rather than letters and numbers.

Warm stones are much desired by all beings it seems and it does not take long at all before the first small creatures make their appearance.

Here we have the ground beetle again. As always, they are very hard to capture because they seem to be in a terrible hurry and move incredibly fast.  This makes it very difficult to move with them while adjusting all the settings on the camera, constantly!

A bit further away in this group of loose stones is a spot on which a nursery web spider* likes to sit and either sunbathes or hunts. It has been there now for 2 days in a row. 

The above photograph was taken in the evening of the previous day (hence the rather dodgy lighting). They are very beautiful beings. And like on the previous day, the place was full with seemingly half asleep St.Mark's Flies. I had to move very carefully so that I would not to lean or step on them. One unfortunate fly took off from one stone but the wind carried it straight to the spider who within a split second grabbed hold of it!

And here it is, the nursery web spider dealing with its catch, which is still desperately twitching and trying to get away ... but soon all movement ceased.

*Nursery web spider females tend to eat the males after mating. To avoid this, the male brings as a gift a carefully wrapped insect, hoping it will calm her hunger. However, apparently some males bring fake gifts and the female, upon noticing this, will terminate the mating (and the male, I guess...). 

The scarab beetle, a very tiny beetle and very slow moving. While the slow moving is most welcome from a photographers point of view (mine at least), this beetle just refuses to pose and takes off  ...

... and takes off again!

There is certainly no lack of spiders ... I need to look this one up at some point. It has a stunning pattern!

And then I came across this ... 

... at first I thought it was another species of spider, albeit a little oddly shaped. Only at home upon looking at the photograph on the screen did I realise that it's body had been eaten ... by what or how it turned into this state I don't quite know. Did he bring the wrong gift?

If any of you readers can shed some light on this, I'd love to know!

Of course the weevil also had to make an appurtenance although it wasn't so sure what to make of the camera lens.

With the temperatures rising, I except more and more beetles and bugs to make their appearance very soon!

And so Spring returns

At last, the temperature is climbing and the sun is out.

There is still a quite cool breeze in the air however, which makes some insects a little lethargic, which I of course don't mind as I have more time to get into position.

The fields nearby are full with bright orange yellow dandelions. It took 2 years before someone finally picked me up on the fact that I was pronouncing the name of this flower wrongly: "Dan-dellion" was my version, with English being my 2nd language.  Each time I see these little yellow suns in the fields and lawns it makes me smile.

The warmer temperatures are encouraging all that buzzes and at last there is a little more variety about. But first we have to do some homage to the mining bee again. They are so tiny, and so very busy ... 

At first they make a point of looking quite cute and harmless ... innocently minding their own business ... 

... willingly showing their best side ...  

... then suddenly there is a full fight going on ...

... it appears that mining bees don't like to share ... this one here was not having any of it and did its best to rid of the intruder ... 

... but eventually both fall off the flower head.

This is a first, I had not seen bees fight each other for the sake of pollen.

In a different corner the motto clearly is: make love not war!

I don't think I have seen a single 'single' dock beetle today ... 

Here it is again, this ever so shy and very quick beetle. For some time now has it been teasing me with sticking its head around the corner to flash its shiny shell and then to quickly dissapear as soon as the camera was ready. But today we surprised each other and my reaction was quick enough to get a reasonably sharp snapshot.  Oh, and it is a ground beetle.

You shall not pass!!

Nettles are loved by many insects for shelter and so its of course a perfect choice for setting up camp if one is a spider. There is an abundance of spiders this year and I will dedicate a page for them when I get round to sorting out all the photographs. 

A 'St.Mark's Fly' - quite small still. There were hundreds of them about today, all very lethargic and I had to watch my step when wandering over crumbled stonewalls as they all were sitting on them to soak up the stored heat.

More sunshine and rising temperatures announced for the rest of the week. I might even manage to get back to that ancient woodland again.

Sheltering Stonewalls

Although the temperature is slowly climbing, it still does not feel like spring. 

The sun was out for a short while this morning but the winds had picked up over night and it was too windy to get any descent macro shot in the fields.

However, there is always plenty to discover in the shelter of the stonewalls. Not only are they great for lichen and moss, stonewalls are also a welcome storage heater. The bees in particular love resting on warm stones. The cool air is making it difficult for them to take off as they need a certain body temperature before they can fly. The honeybee for example needs a body temperature for of 35 degrees before it can fly. 

Often when it is cold in spring or even summer we find bumblebees or bees that look as though they are dead or half asleep. They often are stranded on the pavement or walk paths ... we can help them by moving them to a safe place.

Surprisingly I didn't have to venture far today to find quite a selection of 'stranded' insects sitting on the stonewalls. 

Hoverfly

Fly

A very 'sleepy' mining bee ...

 ... it wasn't interested in moving and patiently put up with my lens close up.

The beautifully vibrant solitary bee ... 

... it tried to make away but struggled to take off. I left it alone after this shot.

The woodlouse - I am always surprised by how these insects look when I see the captured images at home on the screen.