Jennifer Jones Ecology

Slightly more creatures are finally emerging.  The winter honeysuckle ( Lonicera fragrantissima ) in our garden was positively buzzing with bees this month.  We had buff-tailed bumblebees ( Bombus terrestris ) and early bumblebees ( B. pratorum ) on the flowers and I managed to catch this honeybee ( Apis mellifera ) really filling up with honeysuckle pollen.  It was fascinating to watch the honeybee combing the pollen into neat little balls to bring back to the hive for the larvae to eat. Buff-tailed bumblebee ( Bombus terrestris)  on honeysuckle 26th February 2021 Honeybee ( Apis mellifera ) on honeysuckle 26th February 2021 As bumblebees and honeybees are both social bee species they have worker bees which go out to forage for the hive/colony and maintain the nest.  Honeybee colonies are alive all year but workers won't be seen out in winter and they will instead use the food resources like honey they produced during the warmer months.   In...

January 2021 sightings has been converted into an earwig affection post.  I was very busy submitting my MSc thesis until mid-January and didn't have much time to go bug hunting.  Pretty much the only insect I saw was this juvenile earwig. Juvenile earwig 31st Jan. 2021 ( Forficula auricularia ) Earwigs are in the Dermaptera (skin wings) and in the UK we have four native species. This little earwig (called a nymph not a larva) is a juvenile as there are no or very small wing cases visible - only adults have wings.  The name for earwig comes from the shape of their wings; they look like little ears.  These wings are a right faff for the insects to fold up again so they are not often seen in flight but  here  is a take-off video of an earwig.  Their wings fold out by spring-like folds to be 10 times bigger than the folded size and remain locked in place when not in use.  The wings are even used as models for some engineering projects . They have fili...