As the weather has been decidedly dodgy for the last couple of days, I will tell you about an exciting discovery that was made on the reserve last week. A recent sightings post will follow on Tuesday morning.
Botany Bay, at the west end of the reserve has been home to a rare species of solitary bee for several years. Its given name is Macropis europeaea, or the slightly more user friendly moniker of the: yellow-loosestrife bee. As its name suggests, it is closely associated to yellow loosestrife, which looks like this:
Image credit: Katherine Puttick
The yellow-loosestrife bee is restricted to southern Britain, so we are very lucky that this species of solitary bee calls the reserve home.
The exciting discovery that I mentioned above was that at the beginning of last week, Katherine our Warden photographed a yellow-loosestrife bee less than half a mile away from the visitor centre. Here it is:
The reason why this find is so significant is that this is the first time that this species has been recorded on the "newly created" part of the reserve. Botany Bay is actually an area of original fenland so has never been drained. It is therefore fantastic news that several individuals have found there way to an area that was arable farmland twenty years ago.
Incidentally, it is an interesting story of how the yellow loosestrife found its way "back" here while the reserve was being created. This plant would have been widespread in the area before the drainage of the Fens. While the Fens were being drained around 400 years ago, the seeds from all of the plants retreated to the seed bank, only waiting for some water to be "reintroduced"....
Sure enough, while the reserve was being created and water was being "reintroduced", around 100 species of fenland plant sprung up out of the ground and yellow loosestrife was one of them! It is now widespread across the reserve and its attendant species of solitary bee has found it close to the visitor centre!
If you would like to come and see this species for yourself, the good news is that it will be on the wing until early September. Several individuals have been seen feeding on a patch of yellow loosestrife between the visitor centre and East Wood, the first poplar wood. More detailed directions can be found from the visitor centre on arrival. We have even put a little sign next to the best area to look.
If you would like any more information about this exciting discovery, please ring 01842 863400 or e-mail lakenheath@rspb.org.uk; we hope to see you soon!