Tree Bumble and a Caddis Fly

When I walked into the garage yesterday afternoon there was a really loud buzzing sound - I honestly thought there was a swarm of bees somewhere around! But there on the garage door window was a Tree Bumble Bee (Bombus hyponorum) - only my second sighting and the first here at home.

It had incredibly full pollen baskets.



Unlike the Cinnabar moth in the morning I was able to pot this bee quite easily and release it into the garden.





I ran the moth trap again last night and, despite the warm humid air (temperature ranged from 20.7 - 12.4 degrees centigrade) and the fact that there were a lot of flies and micros round the trap during the evening, there were very few moths actually in the trap this morning.

I found another Shuttle-shaped Dart, a couple more Tachystola acroxantha plus several unidentified micros which are too flighty to photograph and look exceedingly hard to identify!

I did, however, find a Caddis Fly. Caddies Flies are a distant relative of moths although they differ in having wings covered with tiny hairs not scales and biting mouthparts rather than a proboscis. Most species have aquatic larvae so I wonder if this particular individual came from our pond.