Some Bees &c. in the Garden (at Home)

Common Carder and Wool Carder Bees viz.

A Hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus and an Unidentified Bee viz.

A Leaf-Cutter Type Bee in the Garden (at Home)

A pretty and very distinctive Bee (with an Orange Fringe): on the Climbing Hydrangea viz.

Confirmed as Megachile centuncularis…

An assumed Sawfly in the Garden (at Home)

We have been seeing assumed Sawflies viz.

for some time now. Whether the same or different ones, we have of course, no way of knowing.

Mint Moths in the Garden (at Home)

Lots around in the Garden at the moment viz.

Out and about on Bostall Heath (the Royal Borough of Greenwich)

Sadly, no sign of the Common Broomrape seen last year.

A Wool Carder Bee in the Garden (at Home)

They are very distinctive viz.

We had no idea what he/she was: initially thinking Hoverfly but then moving on to a possible Bee or even Wasp. We shall be looking out for these in the future: not knowingly having seen them before.

To Minsmere with the local RSPB' Group

A visit mired in nostalgia: for times gone but not forgotten.

Annoyingly: we didn't spend enough time in preparation. Although the main focus was to have been Birds we should have paid more attention to the Plants we might have expected to find, particularly on or beside the Sand Dunes.

But we did find some (on the Sand Dunes and elsewhere) including:

Bird' Species seen included:

Avocet
Bar-Headed Goose
Barnacle Goose
Black-Tailed Godwit
Common Tern
Dartford Warbler
Greylag Goose
Kittiwake
Linnet
Little Tern
Mediterranean Gull
Oystercatcher
Sand Martin
Sandwich Tern
Stonechat
and Swallow

Some Hoverflies in the Garden (at Home)

There were quite a few Hoverflies out and about including these Guys:

Damselflies in the Garden (at Home)

Four so far:

[i] a Large Red Damselfly viz.

[ii] two Azure Damseflies viz.

and [iii]: another Azure Damselfly which we initially thought might be a Common Blue Damselfly (whoops) viz.