The Go-Between

Tree bumblebees collecting nectar from sallow blossom this morning, beside the river Tyne at Wylam in Northumberland. They seem to be hardier than other bumblebee species, foraging despite the fact that it was cold and very windy.

Most trees that produce catkins in spring are wind pollinated but sallow relies on insect pollinators (and occasionally, perhaps, birds like blue tits that have a liking for nectar). Both male and female catkins of sallow produce nectar to attract the first bumblebees, flies and butterflies of spring. There are separate male and female sallow trees so these insect go-betweens are essential for successful seed set. The catkin above is a female and ...

..........this one is a male sallow, producing nectar and pollen. The bee has just withdrawn its proboscis from the flower (it's the brown tube with the knee-bend) and it has yet to withdraw it between the two protective sheaths that also give it rigidity: you can see the sheaths pointing upwards in a V-shape (double click image for a larger, clearer view).

The best time of the day in the garden ...

During this heatwave, the best time of the day to be in our garden is between 6am., when the sun creeps over the hedge, and 8am. when the day really begins to heat up.

The first shafts of sunlight spotlight the tallest plants, like this dill ......

..... or illuminate individual flowers like this meadow cranesbill.

Some insects, like these Solomon's seal sawfly larvae that defoliate our Solomon's seal plants at this time every year, probably feed during the night and retreat under what's left of the leaves during the hottest part of the day.

This solitary bee, which I haven't identified yet but might be a Nomada species, has taken up residence in one of the hogweed stem tubes in the 'bee hotel' that we made over the winter, and emerged as soon as the sun shone into its residence.

Even at 6am. it's warm enough for bumblebees to be very active ....

....... and as soon as the sun spotlights the tall monkshood flower spikes they attract a lot of attention from bumblebees.

Other bumblebees seem to specialise in collecting pollen from newly-opened opium poppies. Their technique is to crawl under the ring of stamens, buzz and work their way around between the stamens and the petals, showering themselves in pollen that they later comb off into their pollen baskets. By 7am. this bee's pollen baskets were already full.

This tree bumblebee adopted a different technique, visiting Lavatera flowers that wilted and closed yesterday and extracting the remaining nectar by forcing its long tongue down between the base of the petals and the sepals. 

Some insects, like this drone fly that mimics a bumblebee, perch on the lavender flower spikes just to bask in the sun ...

... while this common carder bumblebee was busy collecting nectar from the same plant.

Other early morning insects today included a green capsid bug which I think might be Lygocoris pabulinus, feeding inside a marigold ...

...... an anxious-looking froghopper, newly emerged from its 'cuckoo spit' cocoon of bubbles ........

.............. and a crane-fly that will probably soon end up in one of the many spiders' webs that are beginning to appear around the garden...

Tree Bumblebee

Yesterday's unbelievably warm weather coaxed this bumblebee out of hibernation in the garden, where it spent most of the afternoon inside crocus blooms, before landing on a wall to catch the last rays of the afternoon sunshine. There's so much crocus pollen on it that it's hard to be sure what species it is....... but thanks to the kind commentators below I now know that it's a tree bumblebee Bombus hypnorum.