Sunday April 2

A fairly mild sunny afternoon. I volunteered to do some gardening duties starting with mowing the lawn. Before I started, I inspected the grass for any obstructions and noticed a fungus.

Unfortunately I am at a loss to identify it, largely because there are far too many fungus species to be bothered with. However, if anyone seeing this post knows what it is, I would be pleased to hear from them.

As we are now in April, there are far more mini beasts around to keep me entertained. A hoverfly which landed on the primulas in pots on the patio was tentatively identified as Syrphus vitripennis on the basis that its hind legs seemed to show a dark femur. However, it could be a related species as they may not be identifiable from photographs.

Hoverfly - thought to be Syrphus vitripennis

Continuing the theme of difficult to identify beasts, I moved a pot and discovered what I identified as a Yellow Slug. However, there is apparently a similar species called Irish Yellow Slug which is also possible.

Yellow Slug

Several bees visited the plants on the patio, the Rosemary being particularly popular. Bumblebees are hard to photograph as they never keep still, but a queen Common Carder Bee was more co-operative than most.

Common Carder Bee

Another bee was even more co-operative, and turned out to be a Grey-patched Mining Bee. Although they are apparently fairly common, I had not seen one before.

Grey-patched Mining Bee - Andrena nitida

A butterfly fluttered into the garden and landed on our flaking wooden fascia of the eaves which give our house character (according to me), or is a disgrace and has to go (according to Lyn).

Speckled Wood

It was a Speckled Wood, and was soon joined by a queen wasp, either Common Wasp or German Wasp. Unfortunately you need to see its face to be sure which.

Wasp sp

The final interesting insect I saw was a Dark-bordered Bee Fly. It had been feeding on our Jasmine, which I had repotted this afternoon, but the best views came when it perched on the sunny side of our fence.

Dark-bordered Bee Fly

Not too many birds were seen this afternoon, but I did see three Lapwings as they flew over. An unusual sighting for the garden.