Today I headed over to the meadow adjacent to Hillditch Pool to look for a couple of interesting species that had been observed there earlier in the week by my good friend and fellow amateur naturalist Mark Peacock. During his visit Mark had managed to locate a small number of Brown-banded Carder Bees visiting flowers near the sand bank at the top of the Meadow. Brown-banded Carder is a nationally scarce bumblebee species that was discovered by well know entomologist Steve Falk as existing on Hartlebury Common back in 2010. Another small population was discovered at the nearby Wilden Marsh. For more information on this species at the Common, the following article published in the Worcestershire Record is worth a read (just click on the link highlighted in blue):
http://www.wbrc.org.uk/WORCRECD/issue_29/Bombus_humilis_Worcs.html
The other interesting species Mark recorded in this area was Painted Lady larval tent and larva of one on a nettle there. This is something I have never observed before so I was hoping to try and find it. I visited the area that Mark suggested to look and spent a fair while mooching about. Sadly I was unable to connect with the Brown-banded Carder bee but I did have more success with the Painted Lady Larva and managed to locate it's tent.
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) larva
Butterfly wise there were large numbers of Meadow Browns & Ringlets present in the meadow. I also recorded a single Silver Y moth in the area. Other interesting inverts recorded included Black-striped Longhorn Beetle and Pellucid Fly.
Black-striped Longhorn Beetle (Stenurella melanura)
Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens)
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