An enjoyable wander round the reserve in bright sunshine this morning produced up to two singing Chiffchaffs - my first of the spring on the patch. One gave a brief view but escaped the camera. Also there were almost constant Raven fly-overs, Great Tits were singing and a Grey Wagtail was at the usual place below the bridge over the brook.
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| Grey Wagtail |
There was an extremely impressive showing of
mining bees of various species - there were almost swarms of them near dandelions and daisies, particularly along the sunny slope at the cutting. Among them were
Yellow-legged Mining Bee Andrena flavipes and
Gwynne's Mining Bee A. bicolor. The parasitic
Painted Nomad Bee Nomada fucata was a surprise find. Also a
Nursery-web Spider was basking on a leaf near the entrance gate just down from the railway bridge.
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| Male Yellow-legged Mining Bee |
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| Gwynne's Mining Bee |
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| Nursery-web Spider |
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| Painted Nomad Bee |
Back in Montpelier, there were a couple of Buff-tailed Bumblebees and an Eristalis tenax hoverfly at Fairlawn Road and a Tree Bumblebee put in the briefest of appearances at the top of St Andrews Road. Nearby a pair of Robins were showing well and a Wren looks like it might be nesting as it was showing territorial behaviour.
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| Buff-tailed Bumblebee |
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| Robin |
