My 'Square Meadow' is a vastly over-inflated name for a little experiment in which I have been seeing how feasible it is to convert a bog-standard piece of lawn turf with not a single other plant in it (I know because I laid it myself) into a wildlife-rich mini-meadow.
We are talking an area that is barely 3 metres by 3 metres (10 foot by 10 foot), with my birdbath in the middle.
This blog tells the story of its creation and how this year the Cowslips flourished so much as to create an early spring show...
...while this blog showed how buttercups then took centre stage in June.
Now, only another month later, it has transformed yet again, with a hazy froth of white to add to some new yellow flowers that have taken over.
Much of the new yellow is Bird's-foot Trefoil that has grown tall and offers mutual support to the wiry trailing stems of Hedge Bedstraw. The latter has the little clusters of white stars that create the fabulously frothy effect.
I love the mini-meadow, and so do these fellas:
And this is indeed a fella, because it is a male leafcutter bee.He is perched on the birdbath where he sits to soak up the sun, before flying at speed round and round his territory to intercept rivals and females. And his territory? The Square Meadow and no further! That is his universe, with everything in it he needs.
There are seven different types of leafcutter bee in the UK, and the job of identifying this one is made harder because he doesn't have a front leg, or is hiding it! The reason why the front legs are useful for identification is because males of some of our leafcutter bee species sport fluffy white mittens. (What do they use them for? I kid you not, they are to cover the eyes of the female during mating, while he also transmits chemical signals from his legs to her antennae in the process).
Female leafcutters look rather different because they have the job of collecting pollen to provision their nest cells, and for that they need a pollen-collecting mechanism. It isn't a basket on each of their hindlegs as in queen and worker bumblebees and Honeybees, but is a dense brush under their belly.
And here is a female leafcutter in my Square Meadow this week, showing off her pollen brush as she feeds on the Bird's-foot Trefoil.
And when female leafcutter bees are not actively collecting pollen, they have a curious and endearing habit of sticking their tail-end up in the air out of harm's way!
Have a look in your garden in the sunshine and there is a good chance you will find a leafcutter bee at work, for now in high summer is prime time for leafcutters. And if you do find one, then a bit of bottom-wiggling is also on the cards.
And if you can transform part of your lawn into a mini-meadow, well, there'll be bottom-wiggling going on all over the place!