Let it bee

Today was mainly about volunteering for Species on the Edge, carrying out March's wildlife surveys. In the morning, Megan and I went to the old Stromness Waterworks site to look for bumblebees, then in the afternoon, I went to Yesnaby on the west coast to search for Sea Plantain Leaf Beetles.

The previous two days had been absolutely gorgeous, the warmest and sunniest of the year so far, leading to the appearance of two Small Tortoiseshell butterflies and a Buff-tailed Bumblebee queen in our garden. Today was cooler and cloudier, so hopes weren't high for either survey.

At the old Stromness Waterworks site, some of the verges had a few Coltsfoot in flower, the reservoir dam head was liberally sprinkled with Primroses, whilst a few Daisies and a Gorse bush managed to push the nectar-providing count towards four species. Even the feral Daffodils which inhabit so many Orcadian verges weren't yet convinced of Spring's arrival. It was all meagre fare for a foraging bee, and it wasn't until section 3 of the transect that we encountered one at all. Section 3 is moorland, which was bereft of floral colour, so the three Buff-tailed Bumblebee queens we saw were all in flight, searching for nectar and pollen.

Primroses

Garden escapees

Gorse

Coltsfoot

It was whilst crossing the moorland that we encountered a Brown Hare, seemingly very much  preoccupied with the scent of another hare. So engrossed was he in tracking down his lady love that he came quite close to us before he picked up our scent on the breeze.

After lunch, I sojourned out alone to the wild west. Today's gratuitous coastal photo en route is a natural arch, just about connecting a rock stack to the mainland.

Once on site and having marked out the 20m diameter circle of the transect, I began diligently searching for small beetles, my route tracing out the spokes of a wheel. The north east, south east and north west quadrants were, to my eyes, bereft of beetles, but the south west quadrant delivered up two beetles. Then, when collecting up the marker pegs, I managed to find another beetle just outside the transect.

I think that I finished just in time, before the weather deteriorated further, and I tromped back to the car which was parked on a distant headland.