A few short local walks provided the entertainment this
weekend. As we entered Pishiobury Park with
the dogs we were advised to avoid the “Swarm of Hornets” that were loudly
buzzing nearby. From a safe distance I observed about a 100 or so insects
buzzing in a furious swarm. Now in my recent walks the only insect I’ve seen
that could be doing this in this number is bumble bees, but do they swarm like
this? The best I can do is this
Bumblebees don't form swarms like honeybees do. But you might see a few bees flying outside a nest, especially if it's in a bird box or somewhere else above ground. These are male bees hovering outside the nest, waiting for queens to emerge so that they can mate. Male bumblebees cannot sting, and they pose no risk to you at all. Therefore, no action is needed to be taken for them.
On the return leg a stop to scan the skies. Common Buzzard, Kestrel,
a few Common Swifts high up, and then what’s this? Something swift-like but not
a swift. Larger, fluid deep wing beets, rather falcon like, or possible tern
like, or wader like. When it turns I should get a better idea, but it doesn’t
turn instead keeps on going where it is joined by two more, similar, possibly
the same species. And high and distant these falcony/terny/wadery things keep
going leaving me in a complete quandry, and quite exhilarated with the thought of what they could be.
Later on another walk a cuckoo silently jumped up from some
long grass with an irate Whitethroat in attendance, and then flew off. Shortly afterwards
cuckooing started from the top of an adjacent tree. Presumably this is a pair –I'm assuming
the male calling from the tree top is not the bird rooting around in the grass, as this would be the female?
The bumble bees were still there, now identified as Common Carder
Bee and on a large patch of Comfrey (thanks to Andy Sapsford). There were also
buff-tailed bumble bee workers – like the queen but half the size. I reckoned
about 7-10 per square metre, with about 30 sq m of Comfrey gives around 200-300
bees in this area for two species, so about two nests – one per species.
Then this morning a trip with camera to snap Sedge Warbler
and Reed Warbler. They both performed as well as these species can.
Unfortunately I didn’t. Here’s some shots that demonstrate that despite
technology advances, some skill is required to get decent shots, and I don’t
have that yet.
