It’s only April and we have had some amazing wildlife in the Garden already. The latest trio of newcomers started with a species of hoverfly, the 25th hoverfly species recorded in the Garden so far, called Pipiza noctiluca. It is slightly unusual looking for a hoverfly…

Our next new arrival is one we have waited on for some time. Our 15th confirmed butterfly species, the amazing Orange-tip Butterfly. It was a breezy day which doesn’t make for the best filming conditions, but the gusts did seem to convince this individual to sit still long enough to be filmed.

Only the males have these amazing orange tips to their wings. This is a species typical of woodland edge/ride habitat but can be found in many other places, including meadows and gardens.

Our final new visitor, which we unfortunately failed to photograph, was the stunning Goldcrest. A common enough bird but one we haven’t seen in the Garden since 2021 when we started this project. According to the RSPB’s website, this species, along with the similar Firecrest, is the UK’s smallest bird, weighing in at just 6 grams. For some perspective, a tablespoon of sugar weighs approximately 12 grams.

DC: 24.04.2024

Back on the 18th March we came across the following…

So we sat and watched to try and figure out what was going on and filmed the following, which looked to us as if the individual was a) still alive and b) being pulled into the stem.

We know Earwigs are predominantly nocturnal, so thought perhaps it was looking for shelter, but this seemed such an unlikely place. The following day and the little fella was still in the stem, only now much further in and much more tightly stuck it seemed.

We did wonder if this was a potential nesting situation but of course this is a male, and whilst earwigs do look after their young, this is primarily a female activity. Also, mating tends to occur during the autumn, with males apparently leaving the nest early the following year. So in truth we were stuck, and not knowing what was going on (knowing little about earwigs) we promptly forgot about it. Then exactly one month later we spotted exactly the same thing again…

We are now back to favouring the simplest of answers, that this is just a good place for earwigs to hide until night time.

DC: 20.04.2024

We just happened to look in the right direction to spot this pair of mating Esperia sulphurella, which we thought blended into this old deadwood branch amazingly, especially in terms of the colouration.

We regularly see this species, but rarely male and female together. The female will lay her eggs just beneath a loose piece of bark or within a rotten cavity from which the caterpillar will feast on the deadwood itself.

Deadwood is a valuable resource for many invertebrates and generally lacking from urban gardens due to ‘human garden tidy syndrome’ or unsuitable. Unsuitable deadwood can be treated timber, which may contain preservatives that are not invertebrate safe. Indeed are designed to eliminate wood-boring insects and other invertebrates. If you do happen to have any natural/untreated deadwood, try keeping some in the garden somewhere, ideally scattered in different locations offering different conditions (sun, shade, damp, dry, ground level or elevated etc).

DC: 16.04.2024

We’ve had some sunshine recently in Bristol (UK) and this has encouraged a good number of insects to take to the wing. Including, we are delighted to say, several hoverfly species, including two species new to the Garden.

On the 13th April we spied within the bramble and hazel, resting on some ivy, something unfamiliar. Sadly the only image we could get was through the lens of our binoculars, but even from this poor image we could tell this was Leucozona lucorum. A widespread and fairly common species.

Then on the 14th of April 2024 we noted what we thought was an Eristalis species sunning itself on the Maple.

Conveniently it had one of its wings held out at a right angle, and we noticed something odd. It didn’t have what is known as the R4+5 Vein Loop, something all Eristalis species have. The trio of images below are of Eristalis tenax, otherwise known as the Drone Fly. The top right image below shows the vein loop circled in close-up.

Our new visitors outheld wing clearly shows no such loop, meaning this species was from a genus other than Eristalis.

It turns out to be a species called Epistrophe eligans. We’ve probably been overlooking this common species all along, thinking it to be Eristalis pertinax which looks similar.

So we ended the day with our 24th species from the Family Syrphidae (Hoverflies), and no doubt there will be other species recorded in the future.

Hoverflies are a simple way to begin to explore a garden’s biodiversity as they are mostly recognizable as hoverflies and generally easy to capture or photograph. Many can be identified to species level with little difficulty, more with a little practice. There are a number of very good books available to help with identification, our favourite being:

Ball, S & Morris, R. (2015)Britain’s Hoverflies A field guide. Oxfordshire: Princeton University Press

Attracting passing adult hoverflies requires nothing more than a food source. In the USA Hoverflies are known as Flower Flies, and for very good reason. Suitable flowers are generally ones where the nectar is easy to get to without the need for a long proboscis (which flies lack). Wild Carrot, Oxeye Daisy, and Green Alkanet are native flowers that can be used to attract them. California Lilac is a good non-native shrub that isn’t (yet) invasive and attracts good numbers also.

The larvae feed on many different things, but many are aphid feeders, so plants like Hazel which attract large numbers of aphids are a good bet.

DC: 14.04.2024

Our 600th species recorded in the Garden. In truth, it is likely one of either two species, Oulema melanopus or O. duftschmidi. A popular species identification App we use suggests O. melanopus, but it seems unlikely the App is sophisticated enough to distinguish between these two closely related species.

It’s a beetle in the family Chrysomelidae, and is native to Europe and Asia. It is notorious as a pest in parts of its native range as well as North America and its common name is the Cereal Leaf Beetle due to the damage it causes to oats, barley, wheat and other cereal crops.

As with many species considered ‘pests’ there is a wealth of information available online regarding its life cycle. It overwinters as an adult and this is likely why we are seeing one so early in the calendar year. We certainly don’t recall seeing this species before, so expect it has arrived from wherever it spent the winter.

DC: 14.04.2024

Our 500th species, recorded in October 2022 was the Hazel-leaf Roller Weevil, Apoderus coryli. It turns out our 600th species was almost a weevil as well, as we welcomed Apion frumentarium to the Garden as our 599 species, recorded on the 30th March 2024.

And what a beauty it is. This species feeds and shelters on docks, which are plentiful this year in the Garden.

We recorded it on some deadwood within the boggy area (near its food plant). Online sources suggest it mates from April, so perhaps this individual was searching for a mate. However we have only so far seen this one individual.

DC:07/04/2024

Vespula vulgaris

In August 2022 we sat at the newly made boggy area in the Garden and filmed wasp after wasp arriving to take water onboard. Wasps need to stay hydrated like all invertebrates and therefore are often found drinking at puddles and pools. They also take water back to the nest for others in the colony to keep cool and hydrated.

During nest building periods, a process initiated by the Queen but later taken over by workers, it is critical that wasps remain hydrated as the pulp used to make the nest is a combination of wood fibers and the wasps’ own saliva.

This of course means the wasps don’t just need water but a supply of wood fibres also. We filmed the wasp below collecting wood fibres from some deadwood in the Garden. Deadwood is another vital resource for many species and keeping the odd bit lying around can not only make the garden look more natural and attractive but also provide this valuable resource.

You can just about see the wasp with a mouthfull of pulp before it flies off (about 15 seconds into the video).

Sadly, collecting water can be a dangerous ativity as the occasional drowned wasp we come across likely demonstrates.

It does seem likely that our summers are now going to be warmer, dryer with more periods of drought. So despite all the rain the UK has seen since October 2023, it is vital over the coming spring and summer months to try and leave out safe sources of water for invertebrates to drink from. A ten second hose spraying across the foliage of the garden is a good way to instantly provide a dispersed source of water for the small creatures lingering under leaves or whatever shade can be found.

Keeping areas of grass and other vegetation long and quickly spraying the ground beneath will allow wet areas of soil to remain damp for longer periods. Indeed keeping long grass (meadow) areas is an ideal way of retaining mositure in soils.

Little pots half filled with stones to land on and half filled with water for them to drink is another useful way to provide for more mobile species. Just remember to keep replenishing the water supply. TIP: Don’t use thin plastic pots as these can easily bleach and crumble, starting to fragment into micro-plastics which are practically impossible to remove from the soil.

DC: 29/03/2024