Category: Insects - Mediterranean Pyrenees

The Bees' Knees in March

19/3/2018

By Lesley McLaren

Last year I never got round to clipping one of the hedges down the side of our front garden. It's a type of broom, I think, and produces a colourful show each spring and autumn. Over the winter I kept looking at it, feeling guilty for letting it get quite so overgrown, but told myself I wouldn't be wise to tackle it before the frosts were over. However, even before the end of February, new flower buds were forming. I'd left it too late.

Now I'm glad, and my laziness has paid off because it's a mass of red flowers, attracting bees in great numbers. Honey bees mostly, but also dozens of carpenters. I've never seen so many of those black "bombers", as Robin has nicknamed them, all at once. Sometimes they knock into one another as they compete for a flower. An astounding sight this early in the year.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Carpenters really are giants compared with honey bees. Below, there's one of each on apricot blossom, which is right next to the hedge.

This is the first year that young tree has bloomed, and I'm hopeful it might even give us some fruit this summer, now that the bees are doing their thing!

In the back garden, the plant that attracted so many bees last spring is doing the same again right now. (Through the spring and summer months of 2017 I kept a photographic diary of the different species that visited our garden - it can be found here.)

Bumbles, more than honeys, seem to love this bush - perhaps because they have longer tongues to get into its long flowers. The little one below rarely stayed still, so I never quite managed to capture his white hairy face. But I notice he also seems to have white tufts on his knees.

Honey bee

In the short clip below, those carpenters are hard at work.

Carpenter Bees in March from Lesley McLaren on Vimeo.

Now I have a dilemma. What do do about the hedge after it's finished flowering this time? Let it get even bigger or tame it? Given the size of our garden, I think it'll have to be the latter. But perhaps I'll just give it one trim, so it'll be big again by the end of next winter, and ready to nourish the local bee population once more.

A Favourite Old Haunt Revisited

21/9/2017

By Lesley McLaren

Not long after my husband and I moved out here in 2005 we met Bruce, who told me about a lake not far from home, hidden among orchards and vineyards between the River Tech and busy main road that runs from Le Boulou to Argelès-sur-Mer. It's known as the plan d'eau de Villelongue-dels-Monts. Which has always struck me as odd because it's much closer to the village of St Génis des Fontaines.

For at least three years I came here a lot with my first dog. It only takes about fifteen minutes to circuit the whole thing, but the northern shore is a few hundred yards from the river, so we would often extend walks over there. The general area had a variety of habitats: land immediately to the east and west of the lake was sand quarry. The west one was no longer worked, but the other was active. While far less scenic and tranquil – especially when diggers and trucks were reversing and beeping – several sand heaps and high quarry banks were favourite nest sites for colonies of bee-eaters. I had my best ever views of these birds in that spot, and have yet to come across another breeding ground.

Bruce often reported that while hunting dragonflies down by the river, he had found spraint containing fragments of bone and shell, on stones. Were there otters here? When he later found the near-skeleton remains of one by the lake, our question was answered. Determined to see the living creatures, we once mounted a sunset otterwatch expedition. I’d heard that pine martens have a sweet tooth and can’t resist jam, so if it worked for them... After daubing the otters’ favourite rock with strawberry compote, we scrambled up the bank and concealed ourselves as best we could among the trees at the bottom of the concrete flood barrier; binoculars trained on Jam Rock. The wind direction was in our favour and dusk was falling. We neither moved nor spoke.

All was quiet until a bell-jangling flock of sheep trotted along the flood barrier above us. Their shepherd, on the other side, might not have been aware of us, but several sheep gave us funny looks as they passed. No otters showed up. We weren't that surprised – it was always a long shot and, in retrospect, a fillet of trout might have been a more appropriate lure. The trip wasn’t a complete waste of time, though. Sometime after the sheep had disappeared, suddenly – as if from nowhere – a kingfisher landed on a twig right in front of us.

Over time the west quarry became overgrown; sand heaps were removed from the east quarry, and it was hollowed out, leaving a bare, bleak basin, before all work stopped. The bee-eaters lost their summer homes and were forced to move elsewhere. Although neither quarry filled with water the way the central lake has (I assume that was a quarry too at some point), they stayed damp from autumn to spring. If I walked along the high, man-made ridge separating the lake from the east quarry, I would sometimes see black-winged stilts striding about in big puddles in the bottom. Unfortunately, all too soon the most frequent visitors were youngsters on quad bikes and motor scooters. Peaceful walks became impossible at weekends and throughout the summer. Increasing numbers of free campers in tents and campervans began to invade the lake surrounds too, transforming the landscape into a refuse tip and public toilet.

I stopped going.

My first trip back for about seven years was in May 2015, on an outing with the local bird group (GOR). They call the lake by its Catalan name: Als Bachous. We set off at about 8.30am, when there weren't too many other people about. The main aim of that trip was to look for amphibians and reptiles in the former west quarry, which by then had turned into a natural marshy habitat, repopulated with grasses, low shrubs and poplar trees.

On the way, our leader pointed out a couple of night herons on the edge of the wooded island in the middle of the lake. I was used to seeing grey and white herons on there, but night herons were entirely new to me. They must have been present years ago as well, and I'd never noticed them – never thought to look! We were too far away for good views, even through binoculars, but to me they were like the undertakers of the bird world, standing on or in the trees, hunched and motionless, sombre and silent, waiting for night to fall again.

I also learned that, years ago, there were always penduline tits around the lake. They built their hanging, flask-shaped nests of cobwebs and "cotton" (plant down) from the water-loving black poplars that grew here. I would love to have seen those. But there are no more black poplars (I think due mainly to drainage and hybridisation), so the penduline tits have gone elsewhere too. I'm not clear as to whether all black poplars have disappeared from these parts, however, so that will be something to investigate one day.

While frog hunting in the marshes, we were also lucky enough to see a black kite, a pair of short-toed eagles and a solitary griffon vulture pass low overhead. All probably migrating – I've certainly never seen griffons in the Albères before or since.

One evening a few weeks after the GOR trip, I took Isobel there. Bruce met us and, while I did a circuit of the lake, they both sat by the water, close to where we'd parked; Isobel, armed with camera and long lens, watching for night herons on the island; Bruce watching for dragonflies. By the time I got back to them, Isobel had taken some lovely shots of a great crested grebe, and of swallows skimming the water's surface – as well as a distant night heron. The peace was soon shattered, however, by a couple on a quad bike, haring noisily up and down the track mere yards from us, kicking up choking clouds of dust as it skidded round the car park, trying to impress. Or annoy. Interestingly, although we couldn't get away fast enough, none of the birds seemed bothered at all.

It wasn't until earlier this month that I decided to venture over there again, intrigued to see what might have changed.

I took a leaf out of the GOR's book and arrived early, at around 8am. At the entrance, a big sign declared that the only activity allowed at the lake is fishing. There was also a low concrete arch over the road (height restriction 1.9m.). Impossible not to duck as I drove under that. In the car park – deserted but for me – a couple of large dustbins were chained to trees. No litter or broken glass. This was encouraging.

I headed west first of all, to the point where the lakeshore is nearest the island. Against the early, low sunlight, dozens of house martins were skimming the water for insects, and carp were leaping and splashing heavily in every direction. On the island several egrets, two cormorants and one grey heron were immediately obvious in trees at the water's edge. After some scanning and squinting, I was delighted to finally spot two night herons as well. They were, once again, mere silhouettes through the binoculars, but on checking photos cropped to fuzziness later, both turned out to be juveniles (brown, with streaked chests). They are stockier than their larger grey cousins, and their normal stance – legs straight and set quite wide apart – creates a slightly comical appearance head-on.

At the western shore I passed several fishermen/women, plus a couple of campers. It's still possible (even if interdit) to drive round three-quarters of the lake, so I don't see how camping will ever be stopped completely, assuming that’s the objective.

At this point I left the lake and climbed over the ridge, which was (and has always been) covered in the ubiquitous bamboo that blocks one's view of so much of our waterways), skirted the old quarry marshes I'd explored with the bird group, and carried on to the river. Here, I was able to walk on stretches that spend the winter underwater. I had to watch where I was putting my feet – first of all crossing mud that was hard-packed, worn smooth and slime-coated, then scrambling over ankle-twisting loose rocks.

As I reached an islet, an explosive warble in a bush a few feet away stopped me in my tracks. The sound kept moving around but whatever was making it must have been wearing a cloak of invisibility. A little further on I found a bigger, flattish rock where I could sit and wait, with a short view upstream. Several warblers were teasing me with their song now, and I did finally glimpse one (small, brown - could have been anything) flying across the river. After recording their call on my phone, I've since confirmed that they were Cetti's warblers. Non-migratory. The I.D. was a surprise because I thought I'd recorded a Cetti's a few years ago by the pond in the vineyards; turns out I misidentified that one.

The soundtrack of birds, running water and breeze through poplar leaves, combined with the sight of several female mallard pootling about in the shallows up ahead made for a very pleasant fifteen minutes’ rest. Flies, dragonflies and moths were constantly flitting over the river, and these drew my attention to more distant “somethings” that proved very puzzling. In a deeply shaded stretch under overhanging bushes by the far bank, they seemed to be skimming back and forth on the water (like pond skaters, only much bigger) and then dipping underneath the surface. I didn't think they were frogs or fish. Big beetles perhaps? There were lots of them. Also over there, between them and me, a big boulder sticking out of deeper water had droppings on it. Very likely otter, I thought.

Then another movement caught my eye: a small bird, flying low and fast as a dart, upstream. A flash of tangerine below, turquoise above as it passed. Kingfisher! Fantastic to see they're still here, and within yards of where Jam Rock used to be. The end of the summer can be a good time to see them, apparently - when rivers are low and fish are concentrated in the shallows. In five seconds this one had gone, and didn't return - I was lucky to have seen it at all.

It was impossible to walk downstream alongside the Tech for far, but after detouring back inland for a few hundred yards, I got to the river's edge again. More droppings on stones here too.

At that point I was east of the lake. From there, through breaks in the bamboo, I could see another side of the island. Perched in a tree on its edge – though still too far away for a good photo – stood an adult night heron, looking this way and that. His or her pale creamy chest, dark head and back were quite unlike the youngsters. By then it was nearly 10 o'clock. Rather late for a night heron to be out?

This morning I went back, and had the whole place to myself. I wanted to see if I could explore the former east quarry, and found a way in on the side closest to the river. It involved slithering down a pebbly slope (dog in tow), onto a disused vehicle track. This seemed to be the only way through and, the further we walked, the more overgrown it became. Very few people must venture down here. The most prolific plant life, after poplar, seemed to be those tough, spiky grasses you associate with marshland (I have no idea what species), some kind of myrtle, wild carrot, pampas grass and bamboo.

But there were a couple of areas of bulrushes too. The sign in the photo below (erected by the GOR, I noticed), asks people to keep out of the water just there, because it’s a breeding area for amphibians and dragonflies.

So it looks as though the bird group may be managing the land to some extent. The presence of bulrushes made me wonder if bearded tits might be attracted to this spot (if not now, in the future – as the area matures). They are not far over the border, at the Aiguamolls de l’Empordà wetlands reserve.

Although not especially boggy, the ground was still fairly damp – it’s unusual for my walking boots to get wet at this time of year. And there were dragonflies. All the same species, I think: hawkers of some kind, with blue and black abdomens. (I must check with Bruce.) They rarely settled, but one or two hovered for several seconds, right in front of me. Once or twice I noticed one curl its abdomen under and round to its head for a few seconds, while it was flying. I have no idea what that was all about – it was all on its own, so no hanky-panky was going on. Common blue butterflies and grasshoppers were the only other insects of note. I can imagine this will be alive with birds in spring, but today I only heard Cetti’s warblers again, plus one or two goldfinches. Any amphibians were keeping a low profile, but I didn’t go rooting about disturbing them. It will certainly be worth visiting again in different seasons.

The other reason for today’s return was to recce the second area of the river where I saw more possible signs of otters last time. With a view to a pre-dawn visit (without jam), I wanted to find a spot with a decent view of the river.

To get there from the quarry was a short but strenuous scramble (for me if not for Digby the dog) over a series of steep, stony ridge and furrows – created deliberately, I imagine, to discourage kids on bikes and quads.

Once at the river, so many stones on a wide islet were decorated with grey, crumbly (old) droppings. From what I could tell, they were mainly composed of crustacean shell fragments. I believe we do have mink here (escapees) that compete to some extent with otters. However, their droppings apparently resemble those of beech and pine marten (more liquid, comprising berry seeds, possibly frog bones). I’m pretty sure the ones I found were left by otters.

While I was examining one lot, Digby found a fresher specimen, I think, which he licked before trying to rub it behind his ears. A few minutes later his nose went up, sniffing and pointing towards a thicket just across a narrow stretch of shallows on the other side of the islet. No way were we going to investigate that.

I was more interested in a huge tree root left by a flood. Bruce has written about flood debris before, and I’m always staggered by the volume, height and weight of it to be found along the Tech. Whatever deposited this would have been an awesome and terrifying sight.

I had weighted down the end of Digby’s leash with a stone, and was crouched, composing what would turn out to be a rubbish shot of Flood-Debris-and-River-Through-Bamboo, when surreptitious sploshing made me look round. The lead was free, trailing in the water behind the dog, who was nearly across. I lurched, slipped, landed on my left buttock, reached out, and just managed to hook one finger of my left hand round the very end of the lead. By now I was nearly horizontal but his progress was halted and, providing he didn’t jerk me facedown into the water, all would end well.

It did. Neither camera nor binoculars got baptised.

Time to quit while I was ahead, nevertheless. And, back on the main bank, I found what might be a good spot from which to watch for otters sometime soon.

What strikes me most about both visits this month is how the habitats around the lake have changed in only the twelve years I've lived here. The east quarry, now a lush, dense expanse of green – mostly young poplars, same as the west side – is near impenetrable to all but animals and birds, and has such different residents these days. The bee-eaters' arrival in and departure from this little spot seems to have been wholly dependent upon human activity. On the one hand it's sad that those birds have been forced out, but on the other, it's pleasing to see how quickly nature has reclaimed the land – with very little human help – and is currently providing a wonderful damp, safe haven for many different species.

It also means that Als Bachous may be back on my regular walking itinerary.

Upland Update

2/9/2017

By Robin Noble

If you go up high anywhere in our area, say the shoulders of Canigou, the Albères or the nearby, lesser Pyrenees, you cannot help but be conscious of the enormous area of wooded habitat. It stretches in all directions, broken only by lots of bare rock, and a few, remaining high meadows. Importantly, it is much more extensive than the maps would suggest, as most of it is hugely steep, plunging to the valley floors. And it is really impenetrable; the only sensible access tends to be by path or track.

Because of these factors, we really do not tend to see many of the inhabitants of this, certainly the largest habitat in our area-apart from the Mediterranean itself! And mammals tend to be shy anyway, which means that any sighting feels significant and memorable.

During the recent hot and humid spell, I went for a couple of visits to a favourite campsite, which, being at a higher altitude, tends to have a fresher climate, and, generally, rather fewer mosquitoes, despite the stream that flows through it. Here I could enjoy a stroll at dusk without smothering myself in evil-smelling repellent. The water flows along the floor of one of these deep, wooded valleys, and possesses a couple of meadows which are still cut annually, although more for amenity than for hay as they would once have been. But the meadows are backed on all sides by the usual precipitous jungle of bushes, trees, creepers and various sharp, spiny things...

One magical, quiet, warm evening, I was wandering on my own here, walking up a sort of natural ramp, on to one of these meadows; quite recently cut, its short turf was highly aromatic in the still evening. Looking at the ground, it was as much covered by various types of mint and marjoram, (which by day attracted hosts of tiny butterflies), as by grass. As I looked to my right, along the meadow, I saw a big fox, almost black in the fading light, loping easily across the open ground. It turned its head and saw me, of that I am sure, but maintained the same, unhurried pace until it disappeared in the rough margins of the field.

A few days later, my wildlife sighting was in some contrast to this, and rather more comical. I was in the same place, and halted in my stroll, as I heard various grunts coming from the wood. I guessed that this must be sanglier, and waited in slight hope that something would emerge out into the open. Rather to my surprise, “something” did: a mother wild boar, followed by a single baby. She crossed the meadow, almost to the other side, followed by junior, and started to root around in the grass. I knew I must be silhouetted against the evening sky, and stayed totally still, but somehow she became aware of me, abruptly turned, and headed at speed for the cover of the wood, tail high. She very noticeably failed to wait for her offspring, who started to squeal as it, too, belted for safety in the trees. There did not seem to be much evidence of maternal concern among sangliers, I decided, unable to suppress my giggles.

The stream here harbours several of my favourite insects, about which I have written before: the beautiful demoiselle aigrions. Once again, I set out to watch and photograph them, which must look pretty funny, as I teeter on the edge of the water, or crouch within it, camera in hand. This year, there seemed to be more of them, perhaps also a consequence of the different weather. This meant, as far as I could see, that the vivid-blue males were having difficulty in maintaining their territories, and aerial scuffles were more frequent. I am puzzled by the casual nature of their inter- actions with other species of insect, especially with the larger dragonflies. One of the male aigrions, having seen off a rival, settled for a few seconds on the head of a much larger dragonfly, but the latter paid no attention at all.

I did observe behaviour which was new to me, between a male and female of the species. The female was positioned on a prominent leaf above a dark pool, (a very typical location) when a male came over to her, and hovered gently above her. The effect was hypnotic, the black, shot-with-blue wings, the vivid blue body glinting in the dappled sunlight, a brief vision of real beauty. Alas, the lady seemed unimpressed, paying the ardent male no attention at all, and after a while, he gave up...

Click on photos for larger image

Blowing Hot and Cold in August

15/8/2017

By Lesley McLaren

You know it's August when the lawn crunches under your feet. Brown-going-on-white, it's tinder dry, like most of the countryside around. You know it's August when you hear sirens of fire engines racing to tackle another small wildfire. More often than not the blazes are started by unthinking or uncaring people who toss cigarette ends from their cars. You know it's August when you can't bear to to stand in the sun for more than a few minutes, and if a southerly wind is blowing it feels like you're in a fan oven. This is the month when the population of my village trebles, thousands of tourists migrate to the Med, and I take refuge indoors or in the garden.

August sometimes has surprises in store, however. Its first week this year was unpleasantly humid, with some hot southerlies or easterlies that made it feel like 38 degrees in the shade. The second week brought a chilly tramontane, which crashed the temperature to below 20 for several days, and spits and spots of rain fell as snow on Canigou. I don't remember seeing fresh snow up there in August before.

While I selfishly welcomed the freshness, some creatures were suffering. The GOR reported several bodies of house martins and swallows being found beneath nests. I can only presume this is due to the sudden scarcity of food. Too few insects flying. For sure, we didn't have many bees in the garden at that time. They are usually much more active when the sun is out - perhaps because sunshine triggers flowers to release pollen, which in turn attracts the pollinators?

Temperatures began rising again this last weekend, and everything seems to be returning to 'normal'. Swallows have been swooping to drink from our pool, bees are in abundance, and there seem to be more butterflies around, which the cold spell can't have killed off.

On Sunday, around 11 o'clock, I was watering the bees' favourite salvia, which is prone to flopping in the heat if not frequently hydrated, when I saw several big butterflies on a lantana across the garden. Some kind of fritillaries - probably silver washed, I decided. As I walked back to the outside tap, I nearly dropped the watering can when an even bigger butterfly glided into view. A two-tailed pasha! It was heading straight for my neighbour's strawberry tree, which stands against the wire fence, just above my lantana. Praying it might stay put for a while if it was laying eggs in the tree, I dashed for my camera.

After fumbling with the lens cap and fiddling various settings, I stood there, poised ... Two fritillaries were still on the lantana, a swallowtail flew past and, to my amazement, the pasha was also there. In truth it was here, there and everywhere, never settling for more than a few seconds. My camera never caught up with it. I felt sure patience would pay off, but the fritillaries conspired against me by harrassing it and eventually chasing it away. I had no idea that butterflies mob one another - the way small birds sometimes mob raptors. Their behaviour seemed particularly mean, considering the pasha had no interest in the lantana and they had no interest in the strawberry tree.

I had to settle for photographing them instead. Good thing too, because on checking the photos later, I discovered they were cardinals (the largest of the fritillaries), not silver washed. This is the first time I've seen cardinals in the garden - unless I've always mistaken their identity of course!

After that I sat in the shade of the pergola, waiting for the pasha to return, but it never did. The other butterflies disappeared too, perhaps because by then it was too hot for them as well. But other insects were around. An Asian hornet inspected the grapes above me in the pergola, and chased a carpenter bee. When the bee plummeted, I lost sight of them but heard the thunk as they hit a pot. Seconds later, the bee flew off, unscathed. A pair of palm moths was doing circuits and bumps - resting on eleagnus and cordyline in between flights. A hornet considered one of those on the wing too, but had second thoughts. Probably wise, it was like a spitfire buzzing a Vulcan bomber. Lots of "gingers" and "humbugs" among the bees on the sage flowers. The gingers are my favourites, the humbugs make me smile. Times like these become a kind of meditation.

Yesterday a silver washed did visit, so I was able to photograph it to compare with the cardinal. Both are in the photos below (cardinal left, silver washed right), along with a scarce swallowtail that was enjoying the same flowers earlier in the month.

Click on photos for larger image.

By then the temperature was ramping up, with heat haze veiling the Albères and a sea breeze turning the air slightly soupy once more. Nevertheless, around midday I ventured out to nearby Mas del Ca where there are lots of strawberry trees. If the two-tailed pasha were laying, I thought, they would surely be laying there.

I've always called this spot The Park because it would make a great picnic place for families. It looks as though it was once a small arboretum, which failed either through neglect or vandalism. Last year, Sorède's community finally installed picnic tables, and turned it into an outdoor fitness area complete with exercise equipment (well bolted to the ground). At the top, where I used to sit and gaze across the Roussillon plain to Canigou, they built a solar 'oven' - a replica of the original that was built in the hills above the chapelle Notre Dame du château.

Because Mas del Ca is just the other side of the road from a retirement home, the west side is strimmed in the summer, for fire prevention reasons. All the grass is now unattractively brown and shaved, just like our lawn. On the east side, above the River Tassio, there are more trees and, so far, the heather, gorse and rock-roses haven't been cut. The rock-roses have been crisped up by the sun instead. No flowering plants in sight anywhere, which is no surprise for August.

East side, looking south, towards pic Néoulous

It's on the northern perimeter, near some pine, oak and mimosa, where most of the strawberry trees can be found. They aren't too tall and are conveniently close to the footpath.

On arrival there was no obvious butterfly activity. I waited. In the full glare of the sun it was painfully bright as well as sizzling hot. A few dragonflies passed me. A flock of bee eaters flew high overhead, heading south. And I waited. Gulped down half a litre of water. Wondered how long I should wait.

At last, a pasha turned up. And another. At least two!

As flighty as the one in my garden, in a continual dance, they barely paused long enough on leaf or twig before they were off again. Then they would disappear as suddenly as they arrived. After a while I would catch sight of a shadow, birdlike, on the path. When I followed that, I found the butterfly. Related to emperors, admirals, peacocks and tortoiseshells, the pasha must be the biggest of all the species we get here. Glimpsed out of the corner of the eye, it could easily be mistaken for a small bird.

They rarely settled on any outer leaves, much preferring the dark interior, but I felt sure it was only a matter of time before one would stop right in front of me and stay still long enough for me to take a photo. You have to be optimistic in this game.

After forty-five minutes my calves were burning and I was beginning to feel sick. The butterflies had been absent for some time - overcome by the heat too? - so I reluctantly headed back to the car. Once home, I sifted through umpteen pictures of leaves, berries and sky, to find one that included a recognisable pasha. I recorded that as a good start.

Their underside patterns are far more striking than the uppers, whose plain blocks of brown and orange are dull by comparison and usually only seen when they glide. With two tails per hindwing, perhaps these beauties should be called four-tailed pashas?

Today I returned, an hour earlier and with twice as much water. It was gone midday before one put in an appearance, fluttered around leaves right in front of me as if trying to find the perfect spot, and finally settled. Just for a couple of seconds.

These are such exotic, entrancing butterflies that I know I'll be braving the August heat again soon, while they're still around. I also know what I'll be planting in the garden, come the autumn.

In Search of Butterflies at Le Col des Auzines

30/7/2017

By Lesley McLaren Photos by Bruce Hyde

Around mid June, Bruce and I headed to a new area to look for butterflies. Our expectations were high, following a tip-off from members of the GOR who, five days earlier, had seen 34 different species there. Their list included the elusive, splendidly named two-tailed pasha, which Bruce hadn't seen before and I'd only briefly glimpsed once or twice.

At Îlle-sur-Têt we headed north-west, into unfamiliar territory beyond les Orgues. The winding road gently climbed, offering spectacular views of the north side of Canigou - a side we rarely see - with its remnants of snow stubbornly refusing to melt. After passing through the little village of Mantalba-le-Château and tiny hamlet of Trévillach, we pulled into a surprisingly big car park in the middle of nowhere, on the crest of a hill. According to our map, this was our destination: le Col des Auzines.

For June, it was very hot, but also very windy, which didn't bode so well for butterfly hunting. Photos are often essential for identification - especially of the blues and fritillaries - and even if we could hold our cameras still enough in these blowy conditions, the butterflies were unlikely to settle for long.

Loaded up with kit and one dog on a lead, we set off down the only visible dirt track. The terrain was more akin to the Corbières than most of the Albères: few trees on the slopes, more scrub, with occasional rocky outcrops. Shrubs seemed to be predominantly rock rose (which had stopped flowering long ago), gorse, broom, and what I think was some kind of myrtle. To our surprise - considering the tip-off - there weren't many plants in flower, and no sign of any running water nearby to attract butterflies in numbers.

In the hope that the habitat might change further on, we continued. A wooded gully fell away to our left, whose trees and impenetrable undergrowth indicated the presence of water in other seasons. Hillsides to our right.

A few butterflies began to make an appearance - Spanish gatekeepers and large walls for the most part, skittishly leading us further down the track. A clouded yellow and one or two Cleopatras fluttered past without stopping. Most couldn't have stopped if they'd wanted to.

What brought us to a sudden halt, however, was a loud, harsh, bark, echoing up from the gully on our left. The kind of sound that lifts the hairs on the back of your neck. Whatever made it was big, not canine. Bruce and I looked at each other, eyebrows raised, while my dog "pointed", sniffing and straining to give chase. Was it a stag? Do stags call much, outside the rutting season? The bark continued intermittently, moving slowly, steadily up the gully, roughly in the same direction as us. We couldn't see a thing through the vegetation but nor did we hear a single twig crack or leaf rustle. We moved on too and, when we reached a left hand bend, the animal barked again, somewhere above us now, on our right. It had crossed the path perhaps seconds before we got there. As it moved further away, my dog was desperate to follow. Given the expanse of wildness here, it was tempting to think the beast was a lynx (they can make a bark-like sound, and sightings are occasionally reported further north, in the Corbières), however I thought it more likely to be a hind. (Robin has since suggested roe deer buck or doe, as they have a different annual cycle from the red, giving birth and rutting much earlier in the year.)

Just ahead we discovered a bigger flower patch (scabious mostly) with butterflies, so we stopped, unloaded rucksacks, and hung around for a while - cameras poised. It was here where we found a single, stubby strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo). We'd been looking out for them because they are the larval food plant of pashas. Where there are Strawberry trees, the butterflies are often in abundance, so it's said. This one was in a small fenced off area (more shrine than garden, with no habitable building for miles), so we didn't think it was self-seeded.

One or two pashas did whizz by (or the same one once or twice), but we really only got a fleeting impression of size (similar to swallowtails) and a flash of orange edging to dark brown wings. On a still day they glide like swallowtails too. As their name suggests, they have two long "tails". Underside wing markings are more ornate than the uppers, but we needed the butterflies to settle, wings closed, in order to see those. They didn't co-operate so our ambition to observe them properly is put forward to another year.

Species that did settle included a small tortoiseshell, swallowtail and quite a few whites (Bath and Iberian marbled). Several blues too, photos of which subsequently had both of us in a head-scratching, fidget-inducing spot-the-difference exercise, trying to separate the common from the Chapman's and Escher's. Not to mention the expletive-triggering Ilex verus False Ilex hairstreak challenge. For once, even the fritillaries proved easier. A highlight of the day was a white admiral. These probably aren't scarce but I hardly ever see them.

Click on photos for larger image

For a while we walked on, passing signs of former human occupation: a high stone wall and "casot" (outbuilding). When a derelict house came into view, we wondered if it was somehow connected to the little garden we'd found earlier. Plant life wasn't changing, however, so we headed back.

In all, we idenitifed just 17 species, against the 34 seen only a few days earlier on a still day. Given the conditions we met, perhaps this tally wasn't so bad. Our region has many micro climates and it was interesting to learn that Robin and Martine were having a very different experience on the same day, south of us and much higher, in the wind-free foothills of Canigou. Robin's blog (dated 7th July) describes an impressive spectacle of butterflies - in terms of sheer numbers, if not species.

I had also been told to look out for rock thrushes at the Col des Auzines. The males have blue-grey heads, rich rust-orange undersides and tails. I'd never seen one - and wasn't to see one that day either. Just about the only birds in evidence were linnets. Not even a buzzard or short-toed eagle dropped by. Mind you, our eyes were down most of the time.

Beetles were in abundance, including one new to Bruce and me, which scurried purposefully down the sandy track towards us. Heeding the orange-red warning stripes on its long black body, we didn't attempt to pick it up for a closer look, or let my dog sniff it. Just as well, because if threatened they can exude an oily substance that irritates skin and can cause it to blister. Which is why they are called red-striped oil beetles, or blister beetles.

As far as butterflies were concerned, the outing was perhaps a little disappointing, and we hope to return next year on a calm day. It's also an area worth exploring just for its hills, steep gorges, limestone cliffs and caves. Mile upon mile of wildness sticks in your memory. For Bruce, that day might also stay memorable for the tick he acquired, and neither of us will soon forget the haunting bark of The Beast.

Summer Fledglings Learn to Hunt and Fly

22/7/2017

By Lesley McLaren

In May the local bird group alerted members to an apparent dearth of woodchat shrike in the region. Although not officially designated a species at risk, its favourite habitat of vineyards, orchards and scrubby grassland in the Roussillon plain is being eaten up year on year by building projects; we were asked to look out for this handsome little butcher bird.

They are summer visitors, similar in size to a wheatear - bigger than a sparrow, smaller than a song thrush; nicknamed "butcher birds" because, like other shrikes, they have a gruesome habit of hanging dead prey on thorns. I have yet to find one of these larders, but for several years running have seen an adult (always on its own) in roughly the same area on my regular vineyard and orchard circuit. Early this spring I saw one on two occasions, but in a slightly different section of the walk. Come April, I switched to walking in the hills during the worst of the tick season (ticks can be particularly bad in the vineyards, where sheep are sometimes grazed), and only returned to to the plain around the beginning of this month.

In the last three days, to my delight, I've identified two small family groups of woodchat shrike. Except that up to now, per group, I've only ever seen one adult and no more than three young in the same place at the same time. One lot I keep finding in an area of apricot, olive, pine and a few oak trees; the other, among vines and oaks (exactly where I've seen a single bird in previous years). Only two or three hundred metres of grassland separate these micro habitats, which isn't far as the shrike flies. So I've been trying to work out if one family of five or six young has split into two, to facilitate feeding and training duties, or if, in fact, there are two families of about three young each. I've learned that the first scenario is quite possible. Equally, it's not unusual for this species to nest very close together, but in those circumstances adults usually have spats along the territorial border. So far I haven't witnessed any arguments.

Yesterday I photographed one parent in the olive and apricot habitat, and this morning finally captured the other in the vines. On checking the pictures, it's obvious straightaway that they are different birds. But which sex? If both the same, I could safely assume we have two families.

Unfortunately, sexing woodchat shrike isn't easy; they have very similar plumage. Apart from a bright chestnut cap, which extends down the back of their neck, they are black and white. A white rump and bold white flashes on their wings are especially distinctive in flight. According to my book, the main difference is that the female has a little more white around her eye. Impossible to spot that in the field, and inconclusive in my photos at maximum magnification. Today I asked the GOR for their opinion. Apparently there can be a lot of variation between individuals, but the consensus is that my rather more drab adult with blobs on the chest, is most probably a female (below left), while the other, with brighter, smarter plumage, is a male (below right). I might have have guessed.
Click on photos for larger image.

Here's the male again. Upset by my presence, he was sounding a harsh, rattling alarm and wagging his long tail - from side to side as well as up and down.

Below: two juveniles. They are quite spotty, but already have the beginnings of wing and tail patterns. You might also just be able to make out the little hook on the end of the beak, which is invaluable for dealing with their favourite food: mainly insects, but occasionally small vertebrates. Most of the time they keep watch from a bush or post, and drop onto prey. They occasionally catch insects on the wing, and I did watch one youngster attempt this today - without success. They still have quite a bit to learn before their long, first journey to sub-Saharan Africa - which may begin as early as next month.

I was amused to watch two chasing Dad at one point, and I wondered if they were harrassing him for something in his beak that I couldn't see. Denied an easy meal, were they being forced to hunt for themselves, or was it a game? In many respects they are already behaving and sounding like grown ups, but from time to time they regress to begging. To me, their begging call sounds like the French word for "quick". Vite...vite...vite...vite, they cry. Dad doesn't seem to be falling for that any more, but Mum is still a soft touch. She gave in to this one.

In the clip below, the same youngster is still reluctant to fend for itself.

Woodchat shrike - juvenile begging parent from Lesley McLaren on Vimeo.

In the next clip, you can hear the alarm call and see how the male flashes his tail about, to intimidate the likes of me. For a while, one of his offspring is alongside, practising tail-wagging and his spot-and-drop hunting technique.

Woodchat shrike (male with juvenile) from Lesley McLaren on Vimeo.

My conclusion, at least for the time being, is that there is one family of five or six young, split into two groups.

This behaviour strikes me as practical, and a clever way of increasing the survival chances of the whole brood. It also intrigues me. If I understand correctly, adult pairs aren't hardwired to do this every year as a matter of course. So how do they make the decision, and how do they communicate it to each other and their young? My first guess is that it depends on numbers. It's normal for five or six eggs to be laid. But if all chicks fledge, this number of mouths to feed could be the trigger (which then begs another question: can woodchat shrike count?). My second guess is that the female feeds only some of the young once they've fledged (which would indicate that adults can tell their offspring apart). Those individuals imprint on her and follow her wherever she flies. Meanwhile, the male feeds only the others, and they imprint on him. These suppositions have no scientific foundation whatsoever but are, in lieu of further research, my best stab at thinking like a shrike.

Metres away from all this activity, golden orioles are having flying lessons. Yesterday an adult male - tropical bright - was accompanied by three others that were much greener. One might have been his mate, or all were juveniles. (Females and young can be easily mistaken for green woodpeckers, which are only a little bigger than orioles.) They seemed to be having great fun zooming acrobatically back and forth through a stand of pines until, for a moment, three of them took a breather in the same tree.

These birds are notoriously difficult to capture on camera and this is the closest I've been to any that have made themselves visible. They are extremely shy - more often heard than seen - which is frustrating, and a great pity because they are so beautiful. The male contrived to hide his head each time I clicked the shutter. After he had flown off, I did manage a couple of slightly better shots of a juvenile eating a small pine cone. Even then, as you can see, I never managed to get the whole bird in the same picture!
Click on photos for larger image.

I usually stay on the dirt tracks but yesterday, while stalking shrikes and orioles, I crossed a couple of patches of grassland, which had been cut for hay earlier in the season. It was nearly lunchtime and, as the heat rose to sizzling, so the cicadas and grasshoppers turned up the volume. In one rather more overgrown corner, they were everywhere, leaping out of my way as I brushed through stubble and young, green shoots. I was now back in Mother Shrike's territory. No wonder she and her kids liked this spot.

Temporarily distracted from birdwatching, I took a closer look. There seems to be a huge variety of grasshopper species, and all are so well camouflaged.
Click for larger image.

Shortly after snapping those two, something much bigger scurried from under my feet.

At the other end of the size scale to my crab spider of last month's blog, yes, it is as massive and hairy as it looks, and is another master - or possibly mistress in this case - of disguise. It's a type of wolf spider (Hogna radiata). It takes refuge in tunnels, and actively hunts for prey instead of spinning a web or waiting in ambush. I blogged about wolf spiders in November 2015 when I came across a female of the same or similar species, with young on her back. I didn't manage to photograph that extraordinary sight and haven't seen another one until today. If I return to this grassy spot with my camera in the autumn, perhaps I'll be lucky and capture one who's carrying her spiderlings - or even, you never know, teaching them to hunt and run.

Inevitably, new discoveries lead to new questions. Now I'm wondering if woodchat shrike prey on wolf spiders...

Biodiversity

7/7/2017

By Robin Noble (photos by Martine Howard)

What used to be called nature conservation is as prone to fads, fashions and buzzwords as anything else, and "biodiversity" may well seem to some folk to be just another example. As a concept, it is at least easy to understand, as it simply means the diversity of "life-forms", really of life itself, and understanding its importance begins with the recognition that somehow, through time, our home planet has ended up endowed with a myriad of living organisms. These range in size from microscopic bacteria to elephants and whales, and they all are, somehow, more interconnected and interdependent than one can easily comprehend. We are slowly learning the nature and scope of this web of life, whether it is an understanding of the importance of mycorrhizal fungi in the root systems of trees, or the significance of the colonies of bacteria to which our own bodies are, whether we like it or not, the constant hosts.

Just as it is now authoritatively believed that after heavy treatment with serious antibiotics, our bodily systems may suffer seriously in a number of ways, so too do many of us feel that the maintenance of as much as possible of the overall "web-of-life", (that complex natural system which was in place across the entire surface of the planet before our species began to destroy it), is crucial to the continued function of the life support systems with which Earth provides us. Living in an area with quite a significant population, with expanding towns and villages, all of which eat into the natural environment of PO, it is at least comforting to realise what a reservoir of biodiversity this part of France is.

There are two crucial aspects of biodiversity; one is precisely that diversity, the great variety of life forms - like the fascinating insects which Lesley has been photographing and writing about lately. The idea here is that each type, for instance, of insect plays its part in the crucial processes of the world, whether it is recycling decaying matter or in pollinating flowers, aspects which we readily accept are crucial to our own lives. What we tend to call "Nature", (and James Lovelock refers to as "Gaia"), does not believe in single solutions to problems, or in supplying only one carrier-out-of-tasks, but goes in for a multitude of versions of the required organisms; quite simply, "safety in numbers". Keeping this complex web of organisms in balance requires in itself yet more organisms, species who appear to function as regulators of the entire system.

But the other crucial aspect of biodiversity is that its component parts must be widespread, active over as large an area as possible. An obvious example, of great relevance to PO and its lovely, and important orchards, is that we need to have a lot of bees; a few tucked away in the equivalent of a small insect zoo will simply not manage the necessary task on the required scale- and we all would suffer greatly.

One recent day spent in one of our very favourite places, the high foothills of Canigou, illustrated this word, "biodiversity", in the most wonderful and life-affirming of ways. As it happened, there was rather less activity among the birds than usual, and the marmots disdained to offer many photographic opportunities, so you might have thought that we would be rather disappointed. But it did not matter.

From the moment we stopped the van and got out, it was apparent that the wildflowers were in wonderful profusion. The regular episodes of heavy rain which have characterised the spring and summer so far have resulted in more than simply a perceptible increase in the number of biting insects; there was a carpet of wildflowers, more than we have ever known before. Much of it was yellow, like the broom, brilliant against the fresh green, and the small cistus or rock-rose, which spread everywhere.

Often I am quite happy simply to recognise the botanical family to which the flowers belong: scattered throughout was the crisp white of a small mouse-ear, and the vivid blue of a speedwell. But there were small groups of special flowers as well, including two beautiful orchids, which were new to us, illustrated below.

The uniform, dark orchid, with packed small flowers, is one of the fragrant orchids - not, as far as I can find, endowed with an English name, and, perhaps surprisingly, the iconic flower of the Province of Jamtland In Sweden. Its Latin name is Gymnadenia nigra. The second, very beautiful species is burnt, (or burnt-tip) orchid, Neotinea ustulata. And finally, I found one lovely, single flower of the alpine aster, which has become a popular garden flower.

And with this botanical profusion went the butterflies - mostly tiny, jewel-like, dancing over the flowers, or settled on damp sand at the side of the track. I was not conscious of a great number of species (although, in any case, I find it hard to keep track of individual butterflies when hosts are flitting distractingly around me), simply of their fragile, flickering abundance. Many of them were blue, and we show some examples below:

Click on photos for larger image.

Perhaps the most spectacular of these photographs (all by Martine) shows a common flower, the valerian, and a moth: sometimes in Scotland we see one member of this brilliant family, the burnet moths, in areas where the wild mountain thyme flourishes (it was blooming here, too!). The Scottish examples are six-spot burnet moths, and I think that these Catalan examples are the same.

To provide any accurate, scientifically-valid account of the biodiversity experienced in this wonderful place on this glorious day, we should, of course, have done a meticulous survey, counting species in grid squares, or on specified transects, but of course, we did nothing of the kind. We stopped and marvelled, took some photos, and strolled on, our hearts delighted by the beauty of the occasion.

As an important foot-note, I should add, as I have before, one significant point. The wonderful diversity of this area is enhanced, part-created, by the inter-action between man - or in this case, his animals, the grazing flocks of sheep, cattle and horses which frequent these high pastures - and Nature. Without the grazing, the hillside would clearly revert to scrub woodland and bracken, which would be very different, and significantly less varied. Many bio-diverse habitats, like traditional hay-meadows or coppice woodlands, owe their richness to this interaction. However often we may feel the opposite, our species certainly had, in the past, the ability to work with nature, not to destroy it as now so often happens right across the planet.

June - An Explosion of Insects

22/6/2017

By Lesley McLaren

While we usually experience odd days of very high temperatures in June, I don't remember quite so many consecutive days over 30 degrees in previous years. It's been like this now for a good two weeks. Even the super noisy cicadas have started up, thinking it's July. Along with the normal abundance of flowers that I would expect, the heat seems to have sparked an explosion of insects. And one of the best places to see them is my garden.

It's stocked with plumbago, agapanthus, marjoram, French and English lavender, and several types of salvia - all beloved of butterflies and bees in summertime. However, the plant that wins the prize for attracting the greatest variety and number of insects is a euonymus. I wonder if it exudes a scent of death undetectable by the human nose, because most of its visitors are flies, hoverflies, wasps and beetles - none of the usual bees and only one butterfly.

Just as well, perhaps, that it's in the front garden and not near where we sit, out at the back. Having said that, the insects seem totally fixated on the flowers and pay not the slightest attention to me standing less than two feet away. There are so many - all sizes, from minute to relatively giant - in a continual dancing display over the whole shrub, that it's hard for me to know which to focus on. The best way to give you an impression of this is with a short clip.

Summer Insects on Euonymus from Lesley McLaren on Vimeo.

They deserve a closer look but often don't settle for long or stay still enough to be photographed. I managed to capture some of the more obliging subjects; they are but a fraction of the total number (click on pics for larger image and some tentative IDs):

Few flies are as appealing as bees, but there is one I'm rather fond of. It's very small, innocuous, and masquerades as a bumblebee in both appearance and behaviour (spurning the euonymus), but those super long legs and lack of pollen 'baskets' give its species away. I usually hear the rather whiny, high-pitched buzz before I spot it darting about. Photos, revealing what the naked eye can't pick up, make me laugh.

The way those back legs are flung out makes it look as though it's skipping through the air!

Insects insects everywhere. Even in the swimming pool - though not intentionally! One morning I rescued a rhinoceros beetle, which would otherwise have drowned.

It's as big as it looks, but harmless. A shield bug and flying ant must have mistaken it for an island when they also got stuck in the water.

Another type of shield bug

Red and blue-flowered salvia are favourites of hummingbird hawkmoths, bees and butterflies. But they have other visitors too, like the shield bug above. Yesterday I spied a tiny cricket, only a few leaves away from the crab spider of my last blog.

The whole leaf is only 6cm long

Since I've mentioned crab spiders again... Earlier today I was trying to get a better shot of a little Geranium Bronze butterfly on a late flowering osteospermum, when the butterfly flew off. At the time, I huffed, but as soon as I checked photos already taken, I was relieved, because now I could see something nasty lurking behind a petal. (Click pics for larger image.)

There are arachnids that destroy insects, insects such as spider-hunting wasps that destroy arachnids, and plant-destroying insects like palm moths, whose grubs are steadily wiping out palms trees. The moths themselves are pretty, albeit noisy and rather clumsy fliers - doubtless on account of their size. This one was on our eleagnus hedge.

Crab spiders notwithstanding, there are still a lot of lovely bees in my garden; I'm keeping a separate photographic record of the different species visiting this year (see my gallery).

Arguably most beautiful of all are the butterflies. In the last few days alone, in addition to Geranium Bronzes, I've seen a Lang's Short-tailed Blue, possibly two different Hairstreaks, a Marbled White, Swallowtail, Small Heath, Speckled Wood, and ever so many Cleopatras. The latter particularly adore the lavender - as many as eight at a time have been on one plant. In flight, males are orange-blushed sunshine, females elegantly understated. As you can see, I struggle to stop photographing them! (Click on pics for larger image)

It's wonderful to witness this eruption of insect life. Spiders, some reptiles and amphibians, many birds and plants, bats and a few other mammals must be appreciating it even more than I am.

More Activity at the Rock Pool

23/5/2017

By Lesley McLaren

Following my blog earlier this month about Fire salamander larvae, I returned on the 23rd, wondering if I could spot any different salamander or newt species.

After waiting for some time, I only saw two larvae that had legs, both of which were the Fire species. But while scanning the pool bed, something else caught my eye: a moving twig construction vaguely reminiscent of hermit crabs, but more closely resembling the bagworm moth caterpillars I blogged about in October 2016.

It was of course a caddisfly larva. I understand this is a sign that the water is unpolluted - something I'd expect here, to be honest.

Caddisfly Larva from Lesley McLaren on Vimeo.

Now that my attention was drawn to an area of the pool only just getting warmed by the sun, I spotted a frog tadpole snacking, which made me turn the camera to record again. I simply can't resist filming these - there's something about their roundness that makes me laugh.

It was only on playing the clip back that I noticed another caddisfly larva, below right, heaving its log-like house all over the place - and there appears to be at least one more moving around in dead leaves, above left! The naked eye simply misses all of this activity.

Salamander and Caddisfly and Larvae from Lesley McLaren on Vimeo.

I was disappointed not to see more salamander larvae - and no evidence of any adult frogs. But that might partly have been on account of my dog paddling to cool off while he waited for me. And I can't really blame him.

David meets Goliath

By and large, insects were proving more interesting and entertaining that day. Like the backswimmer in the following clip. It starts off right-side up - roughly in the centre of the picture and stationary for a while, before suddenly flipping over and swimming away. Extraordinary camouflage!

Backswimmer Beetle from Lesley McLaren on Vimeo.

A few days later, the salamander larvae were more active - or more visible to me at any rate. I was hoping to film one "sinking" vertically after surfacing. I didn't catch that, but towards the end of the next clip, one does demonstrate how they are prone to "let go" and sink - albeit horizontally in this instance. Could it be that the behaviour develops as their tails become less fish-like and therefore less effective for swimming?

Salamander larva sinking from Lesley McLaren on Vimeo.

Finally, at the risk of video overload, here are three toad tadpoles feeding - but as they continue to drift with the floating leaf, note the argy-bargy going on to the right. Are toad and frog tadpoles scrapping over plant matter or is a more violent attack in progress?

Tadpoles Feeding from Lesley McLaren on Vimeo.

Who knows what was going on there, but there's no denying the pool is still full of life. Long may it continue.

Bees In Early Spring

9/3/2017

by Lesley McLaren

With our garden thermometer registering 28°C this afternoon, it feels timely to talk about bees. They didn't totally disappear at all this winter. In February several spring-flowering shrubs were already blooming, and the other day I was intrigued to see many different types of bee already taking advantage of the nectar. Although I'm very fond of them - especially the endangered bumbles - I don't know much about them, so it's also timely that an email recently landed in my inbox, from Pollinis*, entitled "the huge and silent death of wild bees."

This triggered a little more research, as well as a vigil over several hours, to observe how many different species I could spot on one of bees' favourite plants in our garden. After a while I recognised the different buzz tones, and knew what approached before I saw it. In total I counted at least eight species/sub-species. Five were bumblebees, including a little one that hovered and darted at great speed here, there and everywhere (see above and immediately below). I used to think that only hoverflies hovered quite like this, but clearly I was mistaken.

Initially I thought the next one below was the same species - but now I'm not so sure. It's hard to tell because of the different angles.

This was also a great opportunity to try out my new camera. Capturing them on film - in focus - was challenging nevertheless, and a couple always contrived to forage on the other side of the bush from me! One of these was another bumble - much bigger - the colour of rich custard. I'm hoping to catch him unawares another day.

A tangerine-bottom (not its scientific name) also put in an appearance, but rarely stopped moving for more than a second or two. Despite the blurriness of these shots, he (or perhaps she) is just too gorgeous to leave out. I must have said it before, but bumbles look such friendly, happy creatures. Watching them for hours is no hardship.

Sitting just a couple of feet from them is also quite safe. The little hoverer did investigate my blue T-shirt once or twice, but other than that they weren't bothered by or interested in me. I know bees are loath to sting, but was fascinated to read that they warn an aggressor by sticking a leg out!

After further reading told me that, since 2013, 4,574 different wild bee species have been identified in France, I haven't yet attempted to identify the ones I saw. The four pages of my insect book that are devoted to bees must be woefully inadequate. On glancing at the bumblebee section, however, I was intrigued to discover there are such things as "cuckoo bees", with very similar colouring. Described as "social parasites" these have no workers. The females lay eggs in bumble bee nests, often killing the queen, and bumblebee workers rear young cuckoos. I think all those above are bumbles, not cuckoos (bumbles are hairier) but I couldn't swear to it. Bruce has supplied some useful internet links that should help with identification, so I must have a look at those - when I feel strong enough!

At least two types of the more familiar stripey bumble also dropped by - one much larger and more orangey than the other. This bigger one (below right) spent a lot of time clambering through the plant rather than flying daintily from flower to flower.

As well as the bumbles, several small, brown bees visited, which might have been wild or from a hive nearby. They looked like social honey bees to me. I didn't manage to photograph those, but this one looked different - with pronounced, pretty stripes, close up.

I love the way they bury their head right inside the flower - usefully brushing underneath those pollen-coated stamens.

The biggest, noisiest and arguably clumsiest visitor of the day was one whose identification I am fairly happy with: the Carpenter. Thanks partly to the light, this one is living up to the second half of its Latin name, Xylocopa violacea. It's also demonstrating why bees are perfect pollinators.

As for the "silent death" of these beautiful creatures, the Pollinis report contains interesting facts as well as shocking statistics.

We hear a lot about threats to "domestic" or honey bees. Everything from parasites to pesticides and, more recently in France, predatory Asian hornets. Wild bees face the same threats, and scientists increasingly believe that wild bees are responsible for pollinating 80% of flowering plants worldwide.

Different species pollinate different plants. Those with longer tongues, for example, can get to nectar that other bees cannot reach. And only bumblebees can pollinate tomato plants, because only they have the strength to shake flowers hard enough to free the pollen. Artificial pollination methods are not, apparently, nearly as effective. At the moment, according to Pollinis, nearly half of the European bumblebee species is in decline. And already "more than one in six flowering plants is threatened with extinction in France". Studies in the Netherlands and the UK show that over 20% of flowering plants have simply disappeared in the last twenty years.

"Without [bees], there will be no mountain flowers; no blackberry or hawthorn bushes in the countryside, no chestnut or acacia woods; not to mention tens of thousands of insect, bird and mammal species that directly depend on them."

Sobering thoughts for a balmy spring day.

There was one particularly handsome bee I hoped to see, but didn't. As far as I know, it has been absent from our garden for years. Hopefully that's just because we no longer have the plant it loved so much (another blue flowering one). I shall be interested to repeat this exercise a little later in the season, when different plants are blooming - lavender for instance - to see what other species we have locally. I'll add any photos to my new gallery. In June-July our laurel hedge certainly attracts huge numbers of (mostly) honey bees. At times the hum has been so loud I've wondered if a swarm has taken up residence. But no. Since that laurel is non-flowering, the reason for its popularity has remained a mystery to me, until now. More research reveals that what attracts them is a sweet, sugary secretion at the base of new leaves. I look forward to their return as spring turns into summer.

*Pollinis is a nonprofit organization that campaigns for sustainable farming in Europe. It fights for the protection and conservation of pollinators, notably bees, and promotes the transition towards alternative agricultural practices, away from the systemic use of pesticides.
Ongoing research depends solely on donations.

Lesley McLaren, Bruce Hyde, Isobel Mackintosh, Robin Noble, Martine Howard, mediterraneanpyrenees.com associates and affiliates do not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, product or process disclosed. Lesley McLaren, Bruce Hyde, Isobel Mackintosh, Robin Noble, Martine Howard, mediterraneanpyrenees.com and affiliates do not endorse or recommend any commercial products, processes or services and cannot be held liable for any result of the use of such information, products, processes or services discussed on this website.

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