Beequinox

Blogging has become a bit of a bus driver's holiday at the moment, with my work days spent in front of a computer screen, editing and formatting technical manuals. It's not all bad, mind, as at least I can stay in the warm and dry. However, despite the Spring-like temperatures further south, any inclination of Orkney's thermometers to creep into double figures is thwarted by the windchill. But, whisper it quietly, this week we have had a few sunny days, so yesterday, whilst Megan was recce-ing a new island for her wildlife walks, I took an hour off work to carry out the first bumblebee survey of the year.

Bumblebee Conservation's BeeWalk is a national recording scheme and March probably works a whole lot better for the south of England than these frigid shores. Although bumblebees are insulated with lots of hairs, this month is certainly a tough gig for a bee. And to be fair, also for this surveyor. I took three different coats so that I could choose which one to wear once on site, and I was jolly tempted to put all three on. 8 degrees C, the forecast said,  hmmmm.

In the last week or so, the local Insect group on Facebook has had a few posts from Orkney folk who have seen Buff-tailed bumblebees, our first to emerge in the Spring, so it wouldn't be a complete wild bee chase. The survey site we're allocated (that's me and bee buddy K) is through the dunes at the back of an idyllic beach and bay. Perhaps due to the coastal location, there's always a bit of a breeze to lower the temperature. One of the parameters we have to record before setting off is the wind state. The national survey form has a handy guide to gauge this, referencing things like leaves, branches and trees... so fairly useless in Orkney! Fortunately, our local co-ordinator H has kindly provided a version which uses the sea state instead.

Predictably, we had no luck whatsoever bee-wise. We managed to find only three Dandelions and three Daisies in the 1km walk, hardly a sumptuous spread for an intrepid bumble, and in fact, we only saw one insect along our whole transect, an unidentified fly.

Well, it was to be expected, I suppose. Undaunted, we agreed to reconvene in April and went our separate ways. Having finished the survey sooner than I thought we would, I stopped for lunch at another stretch of coast, snarfing my sarnies whilst sheltering in the car, before venturing along the clifftop to look for Sea Plantain Leaf Beetles. These ladybird-sized and -shaped beetles are glossy black with a bright red stripe along each of their sides, gorgeous wee creatures. Early Spring is their time, so I was much more hopeful of a positive sighting, but scouring several hundred windswept metres of suitable habitat did not offer up a single one.

I forlornly returned to document-wrangling and contemplated how much warmer it was indoors. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), this meme has appeared several times in my Facebook feed recently...