Tag Archives: Bufftail Bumblebee

Love of Nature, Natural History

Spring arrives in Gunnersbury Triangle!

The first Orange Tip of the year

Spring has arrived, with Orange Tip, Brimstone, Holly Blue, Comma, and Small White butterflies all flying today.

Jake, Netty, and Charlie doing the last of the wintertime bramble clearing

We’re racing to finish clearing the brambles along the edge of the old railway track where we hope to have some neutral or even acid grassland on the railway shingle. Time is against us now, as the warm spring weather and gentle winds have brought the warblers in. Today the first Blackcaps of the year sang in the reserve, along with Chiffchaffs, Wrens, Robins, Dunnocks, Great Tits, and Blue Tits, not to mention the chattering Magpies.

A pair of Magpies: “One for sorrow, Two for joy”, went the old rhyme

Among other animals celebrating the spring are the foxes, which have made many new holes and can often be seen about the reserve if you come along and sit quietly in the morning.

Wild Cherry in flower

The wild Cherries are in flower all around the reserve, and the Pussy Willow catkins are glowing golden in the sunshine.

Pussy Willow catkins

Bufftail Bumblebee queens seem to be everywhere, it being hardly possible to reach down for a bramble or a twig without disturbing one.

Bufftail Bumblebee

I was pleased to uncover two fine Birch saplings, just coming into new leaf, that had been hidden under the brambles.

Birch sapling in new leaf

Patrick found a buried milk bottle. We wiped the earth off it and held it up to the light: it read “Golden Seal” in raised curly ‘handwriting’ lettering. The brand vanished in the mergers of the 1970s as dairies grew bigger, so the bottle must have lain undisturbed for perhaps half a century, from before the Triangle became a nature reserve.

‘Golden Seal’ milk bottle from around the 1960s, a small piece of archaeology from before the Triangle became a reserve.
Natural History

Wraysbury Lakes

Drowsy Bufftail Bumblebee Queen on Perennial Sow-Thistle
Drowsy Bufftail Bumblebee Queen on Perennial Sow-Thistle

A quiet walk today around Wraysbury lakes: no birds sang, but at least 55 Mute Swans, 110 Canada Geese and dozens of Wigeon sat out on the eutrophicated water amidst masses of weed that has been there for months. A few very shy Gadwall, and some distant Shovelers dabbled; hundreds of Coots and Tufted Duck swam about everywhere; a few Great Crested Grebe were dotted about, one quite close and not shy.

There were plenty of other interesting wildlife sights, though. A Kestrel rose from a tall willow, screaming its high bell-like call repeatedly. Long-tailed tits chased in and out of the hedge bushes. Best of all, three Partridges, I presume Frenchies, raced off from the horse meadow. They’re a welcome sight; whether they’ll now be resident or just winter visitors is an interesting question.

Snowy Waxcap Hygrocybe virginea
Snowy Waxcap Hygrocybe virginea

A single loose cluster of four or five Snowy Waxcaps grew in the short, clover-rich grass; the species is said to be edible and good.

Pignut in flower in November
Pignut in flower in November

The meadow was longer than usual, rich in Yarrow, with quite a few stands of Pignut, both (remarkably) in flower in mid-November.

Plant stars in moss beside path
Plant stars in moss beside path

In the short mossy vegetation beside the path, these little blue-green plants formed elegant stars in the brighter, more yellow-green moss, a very delicate pattern.

The Crack Willow with its long leaves and incredibly delicate twigs (well named) was covered in small stinkbugs, like overgrown aphids, blackish and slow-moving but full of red ‘blood’, presumably enabling them to ignore most predators; I squashed half-a-dozen on my hand by accident while examining the leaves.  The Sallow too was still in yellow autumnal leaf, but without evident resident herbivores.

Love of Nature, Natural History, Nature Reserves

Pond-dipping Day, Gunnersbury Triangle

Large Red (and Azure) Damselfly pairs ovipositing
Large Red (and Azure) Damselfly pairs ovipositing

Today I “manned the pond”, resplendent in my The Wildlife Trusts T-shirt complete with badger logo on a black background. I didn’t so much as “stand up for nature” as lie down, hoping that the rather lively toddlers waving pond-nets wouldn’t fall in. Their fortunately very quick mother asked me if any children had in fact fallen into the pond, and I replied truthfully that none had done so, so far. And somehow, they didn’t.

In the warm sunshine, the air above the pond was buzzing with Azure and Large Red Damselflies, some paired up and laying eggs, some males patrolling anxiously, chasing off rivals and presumably hoping for some more females to turn up.

The eager dippers caught lots of Greater Ramshorn Snails, and some smaller ramshorns too. Among the haul were some very small Water Boatmen, midge larvae in reds and yellows, water fleas, a tadpole or two, some mayfly larvae (very zippy) with 7 pairs of gills, and some little damselfly larvae (more placid).

Large Red Damselfly on Iris leaf; nice hexagons from camera shutter
Large Red Damselfly on Iris leaf; nice hexagons from camera shutter

Two Sunday volunteers, relaxed and jolly, joined in the pond-dipping: it turned out that the Conservation Officer was out on a flat roof trying to catch a mallard duck and her six ducklings. Unfortunately the duck escaped while they were trying to scoop up the ducklings, so the rescue was abandoned. If the ducklings can’t be got to a pond soon, they’ll starve as the duck has no other way of feeding them.

Queen Bufftail Bumblebee in Yellow Iris ...
Queen Bufftail Bumblebee in Yellow Iris …

We did carry out another rescue, however: a very large Queen Buff-Tailed Bumblebee was sitting exhausted on the boardwalk. We looked about for flowers, and tried her on a Yellow Iris, with some success; but she soon used up the energy its nectar provided. I suggested some sugar-water. This was fetched, and it seemed to have the right effect, as she perked up considerably.

Queen Buff-Tailed Bumblebee drinking sugar water
Queen Buff-Tailed Bumblebee drinking sugar water

Then, in between telling people about the ridiculously complex fertilisation system in damselflies and dragonflies (indirect fertilisation, sperm storage, yeah) and identifying pond animals, I tried to photograph a mayfly nymph with the absurdly limited depth-of-field of my macro lens. What with the white glare from the pond tray, the sun going into clouds, and toddlers leaning into the light to get a better look, it was somewhat difficult. Here’s what I got.

Mayfly nymph in a (fairly) clean pond tray, more or less correctly exposed and in focus
Mayfly nymph in a (fairly) clean pond tray, more or less correctly exposed and in focus