Queen buff-tailed bumble bee

I got a quick glimpse of another queen buff-tailed bumble Bombus terrestris this aftrenoon as it flew around the garden. Possibly looking for a nest site. It was cloudy and very windy. It didn't stay for long before it flew off into the neighbours garden.

Buzzards

While walking through my local park (Easthill) here in Portslade I noticed two large birds flying high, from the north east.

As they got closer I could see they were buzzards.

They are probably common buzzard, markings can be quite varied in this species so identification is not always easy.

One had a ragged tail.

As they flew over the park they circled effortlessly. It was a spectacular site

They eventually drifted off towards the south west. The pictures were taken on a 24x zoom and then enlarged.

Frog spawn mystery

I awoke this morning to find a big clump of frog spawn had been dragged from the pond and was on the path nearby. (Approx 7.30am) The pond is slightly raised 30cm from the ground, and the water level about 8 cm from the top of the pond

The spawn had been dragged out over the wall (wet patch visible) and the clump was on the ground nearby, stretched away from the wet wall. (trailing water patch visible). When I had observed this clump a couple of days ago, it appeared to be about 15 cm at its longest point).

This was the only clump of frog spawn near the edge of the pond that was completely submerged and free floating. The other clumps of spawn, easily accessible from the vegetation had been laid partly on the vegetation and stuck fast (I tried to move them into the water, but could not dislodge them without fear of damaging the eggs).

Any ideas! My thought was a fox; we do have foxes that pass through our garden late evening and early morning. We also have lots of cats around this way and they do take a lot of interest in the pond, but do little more than dip their paw in - and not really enjoying the sensation. We also have lots of herring gull, but I can't imagine them being able to drag a clump of spawn out either.

The spawn still looked fairly fresh and the water patches had not dried up, so it must have happened. I managed to pick the clump up carefully using a dustpan and put it back in the pond.

Queen Buff-tailed Bumble Bee

I saw the first bumble bee in the garden today. It was a queen buff-tailed bumble Bombus terrestris.

After flying around the window boxes it settled on the window frame sunning itself.

Queen Bumble bees usually come out of hibernation in March to start a new colony as only the queen survives the winter. The pollen baskets on the legs were empty.

Rescued spawn

The frog spawn that I rescued a few days ago, that had been laid on the path, has now absorbed water and swollen as normal. As I expected, many of the eggs, that were stuck to the path, are not viable.

The eggs at the top look normal.

Icy weather

The pond has frozen over today, including parts of the spawn clumps exposed above the water.

Spawn accident

I noticed this morning a clump of frog spawn on the patio. This was about 20 metres from the pond.

I scooped it up as well as possible, not easy as the spawn had stuck to the ground. I placed the spawn in an old washing up bowl of water.

Maybe some of them will survive.