Day 347 - A Cracking Brilliant Carder Bee & Really 'Yor-some' Radio York

Me in the Radio York studio!

Hey everyone its Day 347 and a mix of something old and new today. I'll start with the new first. I had the chance to go back on Radio York again today and I met Jonathan Cowap who thought as it was close to Autumnwatch that he'd invite me in to talk about my blog and how its been going since I talked to them last back in May (around Springwatch time). It was great to be on the radio again and I enjoyed the interview. Sorry about the poor alliteration today Jonathon but Y is really hard to deal with, even with the internet. You can hear the interview at the link below - it starts about 2 hours and 14 mins in. I really enjoyed it so thanks Jonathon and Radio York and I'll happily come back again if you want :-)

My interview on BBC Radio York with Jonathan Cowap

The meadowy bit of Geltsdale

And now for the old. The species I'm covering today will be grateful it wasn't where I first headed that day as I saw it the same day as I went to see the Bee Eaters in Cumbria. This little critter was on some plants in a meadowy part of RSPB Geltsdale. As you can see in the photos it was hard to see at first as it didn't stand out as much as some bees. Today I'm talking about the Carder Bee. So what did I find out about this lovely bee?

Not so easy to see!

• Generally the first fact I do whenever I do insects is how common they are and where they are found. Well the bottom line for this one it seems is that it's very common.

• This is relatively interesting as I haven't seen many. myself. Maybe I don't know what they look like in comparison to others.*

• Weirdly, whenever I do insects as well, they get less common the further North and East you go. Well, not in this one!

But ok when you get close

• The only place it doesn't seem common is in Ireland. There's still a couple there though! This might be because not many people report them. You don't know.

• *Well, they look rather different to any other Bumblebees that I have ever covered in my blog, they look more like a Honeybee in shape, and from the top, a Yellow front and a Black back.

• The 'Carder' Bee gets its name from the way they group materials such as wool and other materials together. Another name for this is 'Carding'. Dictionary Definition. They do this to create cover for the larvae.

• They are found most commonly flying from June to October but they can bee ( it had to bee said at come point :-) seen from March to November.

Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
on Devils Bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis)

• The colonies that they have up to 200 workers in them and only young queens survive Winters and get new nests in Spring. 

• Carder Bees are found in the usual bee-y place, meadows, other grassy areas, sometimes they are found even in gardens!

Here are some links to some more information:

NatureSpot - Carder Bees

ARKive - Carder Bees

Hope you enjoyed.

Z.

Day 292 - Wonderful Whinchats

Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) 

Hey everyone today's Day 292 and I have recently been over to the Lake District to look for Bee-Eaters. Those of you who saw yesterday's post will know I did see them. Now, when I was looking at the map, I saw the RSPB sign. We Googled the reserve and it was only about 4 miles away! Once we were finished with the Bee-Eaters, we headed straight over there. It was a lovely reserve called Geltsdale. It was a lovely area of uplands, very picturesque and very, very peaceful. I hardly heard a sound as Dad and I walked around. We saw 2 (maybe 3) 'lifers'. One of which was the beautiful Whinchat! This one was quite a way away but got a couple of ok shots!

So, here are the facts:

• They are found all over the UK apart from the ROI and South-East England. They are found in inland East-Anglia though.

Looking around for dinner

• They are an Amber Status bird because there has been a recent population decline, between 1995 and 2008...

• ...This was more than a small decline. Between these two points, we lost more than half of our Whinchat population...

• The reasons/causes for this are unknown but, from what I have found on the internet, there doesn't seem to be any threats to them.

• There are about 47,000 breeding pairs in the UK so before the decline, there must have been over 200,000 birds!

• The live mostly in upland moors but they can be found in Heathlands, Marshes and Bogs. Rarely in Towns and Villages.

• Now, usually when I research their local names I can understand where they are coming from, sometimes less so. But the 'Furzechuck'? No idea on that one?!

• They are usually about 12 cm long and they have a 22 cm wingspan. Both Male and Female birds weigh 17g.

• They first breed at one year and their typical lifespan is 2 years but the oldest was 4 years 11 months and 19 days.

Off to catch another bug.

• They usually lay about 5-6 eggs and have 1-2 broods. They fledge 14-15 days after their 13 day incubation.

• Whinchats are a migrant bird and arrive in Britain in the Spring from central and southern Africa.

• Their latin name roughly translates to rock dwelling small bird.

• Their diet is small invertebrates and sometimes berries. They generally hunt from a perch which fits what this one was doing - it would occasionally launch itself off of the wire to catch something and then returned to the fence.

Here are some links to some more information:

RSPB - Whinchat

BTO Birdfacts - Whinchat

Birdlife - Whinchat

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.