Lots of Emergences the Last Few Days!

 Thought I'd give you a mini photo dump of the last few days! 

As we enter April, more and more species are starting to appear. Today brought me a common furrow bee in the old oak wood, while earlier in the week we've had early mining bees, male common mourning bees and a red mason bee up and about. Also perhaps a white banded sweat bee. 

Add to this the increasingly unhinged hairy footed flower bees, now getting too fast to photograph as the weather warms, and the delightful dark edged fee fly, there's plenty to see at my favourite time of the year.

Hope you are finding new critters out and about too. 

Si 

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 04.04.26 

Yet More Spring Finds!

 Today's walks were on a duller day, but still a productive one. 

The first tawny mining bees were out today, seemingly country wide judging by my social feeds, and I came across one at the edge of someone's front garden, seemingly not operating at full throttle yet, but its colours were glorious. 

Then I found a female hairy footed flower bee foraging off red dead nettle growing out the pavement. This one seemed rather mad at me. 

My final find, at Rumbles Cafe on the park, was a beetle with a beautiful metallic sheen. Possibly a rainbow growclock beetle, this was another new find for me. 

Si 

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 

Tawny Mining Bee, Among Others

 Well, we are in a spell of lovely weather, and spring feels like it has properly sprung now, with butterflies on the wing today - of which more in another post. 

I've been loving visiting Sconce Park, reading and drinking tea at the cafe while listening to cricket on the radio, before walking through the park wildlife hunting. This weekend has been superb, with the highlight being my first ever capture of a tawny mining bee feeding off blossom. 

These stunning yellow and deep gold solitary bees are usually seen flying around at low level around the patches of dry dirt where they make their mini-volcano like homes, but I managed to catch one on the lovely crisp white blossom, and somehow got decent photographs despite my phone camera really struggling with the sun. 

There were other small bees about too, one in the old oak wood being a suspected short fringed mining bee, while another on blossom being perhaps an early mining bee. 

All hail iNaturalist!

Well, I hope you are finding some rewarding spring sights as well!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 07.04.25

Bee-ing an Artist

 I keep inheriting little notebooks and felt tip pens in various places, and so when I get the chance it is fun to do a little sketching here and there.

My latest ones were done with no visual reference, and golly gee it shows! I couldn't remember how the stripes on a red admiral went, what actual colour a tawny mining bee was, and didn't have a purple pen to "illustrate" a buddleia. 

Still, I kind of like the results, and feel like I've upgraded my work to about seven year old levels, which is nice. 

I also guess drawing them makes up for not actually seeing them, these dark cold months.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 04.12.22