Black ants preparing for nuptial flight

The black ants are getting busy in our garden preparing for their nuptial flight. In the back garden on the rockery they have been building a huge mound of soil - an amazing feat of earth moving for their size.

From past experience I have found the nursery chambers are beneath the rocks that absorb and retain the suns heat. The ants are now building soil chimneys up the side of one of the rocks.

Back on 23rd July, a aborted nuptial flight took place at 5.50pm from the nest outside of our garden beneath the pavement.  

A few of the queens left the nest and some were eaten by sparrows that found them on the ground. But they seemed to change their mind (wrong environmental conditions!) and went back inside.

Wildlife sightings round up

Apologies for lack of posts over the last few months. I have been working on a Heritage Lottery Funded wetland project in Lewes which has taken up much of my time.

Lots of interesting wildlife recorded in and around my garden and here are a few highlights from the last few months.

Hundreds of tiny froglets successfully emerged from the pond

The Red Mason Bees continued to nest in the bee hotels and were also joined more recently by leaf cutter bees.

The small red damselflies have emerged from the pond. 

I rescued one emerging damselfly that fell from the pond plant it had emerged from. It was still pale and needed to dry out.

I found it a safe perch in the garden sheltered from the wind.

The swifts have returned and have been nesting as usual in the eaves of our neighbour’s house. 

I have been watching several herring gull nests close to our house. They are at different stages, all have chicks, and some are learning to fly.

Lots of interesting invertebrates such as this cockchafer also known as May bugs. 

They are considered a pest as the larvae eat plant roots and can be a big problem to root vegetables.

I have continued to plant and grow stuff in the garden, as this is my chill out time. Lots of plants in the window boxes, tomatoes, green beans,strawberries and sunflowers to name a few. 

The bees have been busy pollinating the soft fruits such as raspberries and blue berries.

 I have eaten all the raspberries and some of the blue berries. So much more tasty than shop bought.

In the sunny evenings I have been enjoying sitting in the garden and reading and watching the spectacular sky as the sun sets.

Red mason bees

The red mason bees are nesting in the 'bee hotel' in our back garden for the forth year running.

These tiny little solitary bees will make mud cells and deposit an egg with food for next year. See below a link for one of last years posts.

http://urbanwildlifejottings.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/red-mason-bees-nesting.html

I received another bee hotel last year as a present but it was not used by any bees. So this year I have used my bee mapping process (that I usually work with schools) to chose the best location for the bee hotel based on the bees requirements and connectivity with bee activity in and outside of our garden.

To place it in the chosen location I had to put the box on a post.

That was about a month ago and this year mason bees have started to visit - in fact one tube has been filled with mud cells and already been capped off. 

So I have been really pleased, first to have another active bee hotel and secondly because the mapping process (that I encourage schools to use) indicated a good site.

Whitethroat

The whitethroat is a medium sized warbler about the size of a great tit. The whitethroat arrives in the UK from Africa about mid-April and returns in October.

 This is the first time I have seen a whitethroat in my garden. I was doing some gardening when I was attached by the movement in one of the bushes.

I think its a male as it does appear to have a tinge of grey but it could be a female.

The whitethroat actively searched for insects flicking and darting in usual warbler movements and even dropping from one branch onto a lower one.

At one point the warbler dropped to the ground and searched in the undergrowth beneath the bushes.


Lovely looking bird.

The whitethroat population crashed by about 70% between the 1968 and 1969 breeding season due to drought in the whitethroat's wintering grounds in Western Sahel (an area of Savannah south of the Sahara).

Since then their numbers have slowly been recovering, but this is worrying when you consider the changes in global climate. Species that migrate to the UK may be affected but climate changes while in their wintering grounds impacting on the number of birds that migrate to the UK to breed.

And of course they may also be affected by changes in climate and weather while they are in the UK.

Update

The tadpoles have continued to develop and are bigger and more active. Hairy footed bees (both male and female) are visiting the pulmonaria plants and the flowering currant.


There are several buff tailed queen bumble bees visiting the garden, especially the flowering currant.


There are also numerous honey bees especially on the flowering herbs.

More frogs and nuptial pad

Over 25 frogs in the pond today, possibly more beneath the surface.

I intercepted this frog on the way to the pond and placed it in a container for a few minutes to have a closer look

This is a male. You can see the nuptial pads on the toe of the front leg. The frog uses these pads to help grip the female while mating.

More frogs

More frogs and more spawn