It’s a hoverfly with a tapered abdomen which has an appearance mimicking a drone – a male bee. I’m not sure quite why. Mimics benefit when they look like something else which is unpleasant or dangerous to eat. Lots of hoverflies look like bees or wasps. But drones don’t sting. So this type opf hoverfly is a lookalike for another insect which is itself harmless.
A bluetit which seemed to be pecking away at flowers on a pear tree. I wasn’t close enough to see whether it was nibbling the flowers themselves, or insects on the flowers.
Bluebells seem slow starting to flower this year, perhaps the continuing frosty mornings. These were the first few I spotted, in Bantock Park.
Halophile (salt-loving) plant with tiny flowers, Danish scurvy grass. It used to be very rare, found only very near the coast. Since the 1960s, gritting of icy roads has become routine. The scurvy grass has colonised the first few inches of verges along main roads, the splash zone, where the white flowers can be found in spring.
Female blackbird on the hunt at bantock Park. Catching and eating one worm, then listening for others.
One of the pied wagtails featured in yesterday’s post, flying off across the West Park lake.