Early signs of Spring.

Some early signs of Spring taken observed on a few walks around Suffolk..

Swallows along the River Alde between Hollesley and Boyton.

Reed Buntings were out singing.

In the garden at home.

Peacock Butterfly.

A nice fresh Orange Tip.

Unknown Bee.

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly.

One of a few Bee Flies.

At Minsmere I heard many Chiffchaffs but only one presented itself clearly enough for photo.

The Sand Martins were back to their nest sites.

Taking pictures of them by the nest holes it was easier to get them in the frame but they're virtually the same colour as the background.

The Chiffchaffs were much more obliging on my local patch a few hundred yards from home. Up 3 or 4 of them chasing each other about and regularly posing in the open and quite close.

So much to look forward to now that Spring has kicked off.

Best Wishes,

Trevor

Another fabulous set of photos Trevor, Love the chiffchaffs, and the sand martins, and your swallows and Buttterflies,
but I wouldn't want to wake up at the side of your bee creatures, Lol.

Those are very good photos. Exspeacially the Reed bunting, Butterflys and chifchaff and bee fly and the bee, swallows and martins so pretty much all them really. The Bee in your photo is a mining bee. mining bees arnt Bumblebees but a type of bee called solitary bees.

Bee flys are bee mimics and evolved alongside our solitary bees to mimic them. the larvae are parasites of solitary bees. it flings its eggs into a solitary bees nest hole with great acuaracy when the larvae hatch the larvae then eat the pollen and the solitary bee larvae but is just part of the ecosystem.when there adults there job is pollination and egg laying. And When it comes to pollination Adult bee flys are excellent and helpful pollinators just like solitary bees

There are some other types of solitary bees aswell not just mining bees Other types of solitary bees are leaf cutter bee and hairy footed flower bee for example

For mining bee theres a couple of common ones but a few examples of the common mining bees in the solitary bee family is the Tawny mining Bee, Red mason bee

In the uk we got 250 species of bees and they consist of 24 species of Bumblebee. 7 are widespread across Britain and one called the Heath Bumblebee sometimes joins to make 8. other bees We have one honey bee species and the rest are solitary bees.

Hi Zo,
Many thanks for your comments and the very helpful information on the Bee.
Of the various solitary bees you mentioned we do get Hairy-footed Flower Bees in our garden alongside a type of Cuckoo Bee that predates on them.
Trevor

You obviously haven't got the heavy rain and gusty wind we have Trevor...more cracking shots...thanks for sharing ;-)

(Pardon the Scottish Accent)

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