23rd May 2008. I parked the car close to The Cow & Calf on Ilkley Moor where this Red Admiral was busy laying eggs on a patch of nettles. I disturbed it several times as I tried to take a photograph but it persisted in returning to the same spot. I will return in a few weeks to look for the larvae.
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23rd May 2008. The Osmia rufa has been busy!
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10th May 2008. One of the flowerbeds in my back garden has burrows of Adrena scotica and there are numerous patrolling specimens of its cleptoparasite Nomada marshamella.
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9th May 2008. A bee that is presumably Osmia rufa is making use of the bee tubes bought from The Oxford Bee Company a few years ago. This is the first time that my tubes have been successful and presumably moving it to a sunnier position has been a factor.
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3rd May 2008. Whilst walking on Baildon Moor, I came across this pair of Andrena fulva.
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16th March 2008. I have
drilled holes in a small birch log and placed it on Otley Chevin. It will be
interesting to see which species of solitary wasps make use of this later in
the summer.
The log was placed in a sunny position very close to the location where I found exuviae of Large Red-belted Clearwing last year.
On the 4th April 2008 I had a walk around Denso
Wildlife Reserve at Baildon where the warden, Steve Warrillow was busy painting
a shed. Whilst chatting we noticed this Harlequin ladybird, a species which has
only arrived in Yorkshire in the last two years.
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We also spotted a Mink travelling along the opposite bank of the
river but this was much too far away for my camera to take a decent
photograph!
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On the 5th April 2008 I travelled the short distance to Bingley
where a four Waxwings were busy feeding on the catkins of a Poplar tree.
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26th April 2008 Speckled Wood butterflies are now in
evidence in and around Baildon.
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