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The birds and the bees, insecticides and wildlife

The birds and the bees, insecticides and wildlife

by Lewis, 24 November, 2015, 1 comments

The woodlands' blog has often reported on the problems that bees and bumblebees are facing; these range from habitat loss & fragmentation, changing agricultural practices, parasites (varroa) and viruses, climate change and extreme climate events and the use of pesticides (particularly neonicotinoids). Now there is evidence accumulating that the decline in various bird species  (sparrows, swallows and tree starlings) can be correlated with the use of insecticides.   A group of researchers from Birdlife (Netherlands), the Dutch Centre for Field Ornithology and Radboud University, Institute of Water and Wetland Research have been studying bird population declines at the turn of the century.  Read more...
Just bees

Just bees

by Chris, 31 July, 2014, 2 comments

Not a blog in the usual 'woodlands.co.uk" sense, but here are some jpgs of bees that have visited my garden.  In early Spring, there seemed to be very few honey bees or bumble bees around - so I was a bit concerned. However, these last two or three weeks have seen them buzzing around - on the lavender (they particularly like that), the teasels, the hollyhocks - with the occasional visit to nasturtiums and sunflowers. Read more...
Bees and butterflies, nectar and nectaries.

Bees and butterflies, nectar and nectaries.

by Chris, 20 June, 2014, 0 comments

Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by special glands on a plant.  These glands are usually associated with the flowers - but not always.  Floral nectaries are usually found at the base of the petals so that a visiting insect picks up or deposits pollen whilst collecting the nectar; thus, 'helping' the plant to reproduce / set seed.   Common pollinators are bees, bumblebees, wasps, moths, butterflies and hummingbirds;  less common pollinators are flies, ants, possums and bats. Read more...
Winter weather, and its effects

Winter weather, and its effects

by Chris, 20 February, 2014, 5 comments

In 2010, the blog reported on the exceptional winter weather.  Back then, we had just ‘emerged’ from one of the coldest winters on record. Currently, we are experiencing one of the wettest winters ever. In December, the East Coast faced storms and a tidal surge (affecting communities from Scotland down to Essex), and then Christmas Eve saw high winds and the cancellation of flights from Gatwick.   January brought some 175 mm of rain in the South East.  The closest comparable January was that of 1948.  A summary of the winter so far can be found at the Met Office web site - here Read more...
Bees and butterflies - again

Bees and butterflies – again

by Lewis, 28 July, 2013, 3 comments

Last year, the blog commented on how the weather was affecting bees, butterflies and bumblebees, and how this in turn was affecting fruit crops etc.  Fortunately, the picture seems to be somewhat better this year - despite the extended Winter / cold Spring.  Bee keepers are reporting that the populations in their hives are on the increase (Sunday Times 28/7/2013), and the Butterfly Conservation Trust are more optimistic about the recovery of a number of butterfly populations. Preliminary information from the Big Butterfly Count 2013 suggests that the numbers of small tortoiseshells and peacocks are on the increase -as are some rarer species. Read more...
British Summer Time ?

British Summer Time ?

by Lewis, 31 March, 2013, 2 comments

We have now switched over to British Summer Time but the weather is still decidedly ‘wintery’.  We have experienced the coldest March in decades, and the coldest end to March in over a hundred years.  Indeed, March has been colder than the preceding winter months. A blackthorn winter if there ever was.  The impact of this weather on wildlife could be far reaching. Bird populations are likely to suffer – migratory birds are scarce (such as the swallow) and for those that do arrive, there is little food .  There are few insects, beetles, slugs, worms or caterpillars.  The lack of food will also affect resident birds, such as robin and blackbird.   Barn owls are particularly affected by extended winter periods – as they cannot find prey. The breeding season for most birds will probably be reduced , only one brood of young will be possible in a truncated Spring and Summer period. Sea birds have not escaped unscathed - due to storms at sea, there have been increased mortalities of  birds, such as puffins. Read more...
2012 – a rather wet year.

2012 – a rather wet year.

by Lewis, 8 January, 2013, 7 comments

It has been a rather strange year.  After another dry winter – March arrived and was one of the warmest and driest on record; consequently, many of us were threatened with restrictions (on hosepipes etc)  as a severe drought threatened - many reservoirs were very low on water. But then came April, which was one of the wettest recorded in the UK.  Some 121.8 mm of rain fell, beating the previous record of 120.3 mm -which was set in 2000; some parts of the U.K. had three times the ‘normal’ amount of rainfall. June was also very wet and set a record. There then followed the wettest summer as a whole since 1912.   The final rainfall figures for the year have been released and the total rainfall for the UK during 2012 was 1,330.7 mm (52.4in), just 6.6mm short of the record set in 2000. The big winners in these wet conditions were slugs – including the giant Spanish super slug, or Spanish stealth slug that was reported to be invading gardens.  These have an  ‘enhanced’ breeding cycle producing many more eggs Read more...
Biting bees

Biting bees

by Chris, 15 November, 2012, 0 comments

The woodlands blog has previously posted about hygienic behaviour that is seen in some bee colonies, this involves the removal of dead bee larvae and pupae. These could act as breeding grounds for mites and other insects that make “their home” in a hive. Mites, such as the varroa mite, are small spider-like creatures that attach to bees and ‘suck their blood’ and in so doing inoculate the bees with various viruses such as acute bee paralysis virus, deformed wing virus, and slow paralysis virus etc.   Mites are endemic to both wild and domestic bee colonies, as are insects such as wax moth larvae.  Wax moth larvae can burrow into the combs of a hive / colony destroying the cells where the larvae etc. are developing and growing, and where honey is stored. Read more...

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