Jennifer Jones Ecology

Large Blue history  The UK's population of Large Blue butterfly ( Phengaris arion ) has always been rare, and sadly declined until it went extinct in 1979. However, it's conservation and reintroduction has been a major success story in invertebrate conservation. Large Blue butterflies mating at Daneway Banks (June 2023) In June 2023, I was lucky enough to join a joint field meeting of the Royal Entomological Society (RES) and the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) to see the success of the Large Blue reintroduction project at Daneway Banks SSSI (Gloucestershire). This population is not only the largest UK population, but also the largest population globally (since 2019)!  BSBI and RES field meeting at Daneway (17th June 2023) The Large Blue relies on the red ant Myrmica sabuleti  to complete its lifecycle. The decline of these ants in the 60s-70s resulted in the 1979 Large Blue UK extinction. These ants cannot build mounds to reach suitable microclimates (he...

My first 2022 bumblebee (6th March 2022) The huge buff-tailed bumblebee queens are out of hibernation ready to start making their nests in time for all the spring flowers to come out. A rather appropriate anniversary gift for my Graham and I! The large queen bumblebees start flying on sunny days in early spring (some are  winter-active ). They are searching for food high in energy (nectar) and protein (pollen). You can see the neat-packed pollen baskets on bumblebee's hind legs and nectar is stored in their crop (similar to where birds store food). Sometimes the colour of the pollen can suggest what plant a bee has been visiting; I occasionally notice bumblebees with striped pollen baskets from visiting different flowers (see photo below).  Bumblebee with two types of pollen on hind leg Once fed, the bumblebee will be seen low flying (zig-zagging pattern) across habitats like grass verges, near compost heaps, and other habitats which may provide possible nesting holes. Most UK...

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...