The Lyons Share

I've just spent a very informative few days on Steven Falk's bee course hosted by the University of Sussex. The second I was able to guide people around Seaford Head and show everyone the fantastic work we have been doing there to improve the habitat for wildlife. The eastern ride in Hope Bottom is looking incredible at the moment (above) with a carpet of Ground-ivy flowering and a host of bees and flies feeding on it in the warmth of the sinuous ride. This was just solid scrub a few years ago. We got a big thumbs up from Steven for this. This is a great place to see Hairy-footed Flower Bee Anthophora plumipes (below) and Dotted Bee-fly.

But things got really exciting when we got to Hope Gap and stopped for lunch. I was buzzed by a big shiny black bee and managed to net it. It was a male Black Mining-bee Andrena pilipes (my 35th Andrena - although I am already on 36 but that's another story!). A new species for me and a really scarce bee on the Downs. Although there is one record from Steven back in 2008 for this species, it may actually have been new for the reserve. I love Andrenas so finding a new one is always a great moment. I also caught a funny looking Nomada but hold that thought...

I think Special Ops Mining-bee also works.

We went down to the tiny saltmarsh area but it was quite exposed. I did find a male Osmia aurulenta though and it behaved for some photos after being potted.

We headed back via Hope Gap again to check out the carpets of Ground-ivy and someone caught another funny Nomada. Steven then got really excited, with this being possibly the first record for Sussex. In all we saw at least three Variable Nomad Bees Nomada zonata and I have just keyed out two specimens from what I had collected. Quite the day! This is the 10,094th species and the 471st hymenopteran recorded on a Sussex Wildlife Trust reserve.

Steven stayed on and found the first of the very rare Potter Flower Bee Anthophora retusa of the year (that the site is well known for and we'll be surveying for in a few weeks) and saw around ten Nomada zonata and has kindly let me use his photos here. A big thank you to Steven and Nick Balfour from the University of Sussex for such a great event.

Finally connected with a new species of orchid, here is Sword-leaved Helleborine. This Hampshire Wildlife Trust (Chappetts Copse) is right next to one of the farms I am surveying but I missed them five years ago. There are hundreds of them there, if not thousands. Lots of Sweet Woodruff too.

Prior to this I went and helped Susy Jones get to 1000 species. This is significant in its own right but particularly so that she is  now the 100th person to reach a 1000 species! Go and have a look at the top 100 listers and sign up if you haven't already! We even found a really scarce bug Dalman's Leatherbug Spathocera dalmanni which I've only seen once before.

So I have finally ticked Wild Gladiolus. I managed to find four plants but it wasn't in flower and looked very like Creeping Soft-grass from a distance that was growing everywhere. I feel slightly cheated at not having seen the flowers but then the leaves are glaucous so who needs a big pink show off? Other than that today was pretty quiet. I did get a few shots but nothing else new. The Rose Chafer that landed in front of us gave me some excitement when I thought I had found a Noble Chafer. It flew off before I could get a good look at it but I am sure it was just a Rose Chafer. Here is Triplax russica that I found near some fungus on fallen Beech.

I should have known this in the field but I realised today that I didn't know the song of Mottled Grasshopper. Anyway, here it is with its distinct clubbed antennae.

I was really pleased to find another Stictoleptura scutellata today but this time an ovipositing female! This is still the only longhorn beetle I have seen in the New Forest. Off to the Isle of Wight for the first time tomorrow!