A Damp Work Day

It was a hot and sticky damp drizzly day, but the volunteers, as always, worked like troopers.

We have a major project coming up and the ground work for that needed to be completed. We had some cutting back to be done and a team of us cleared the area in no time.

The board walks were swept and moss and debris were cleared from the path edges, as well as the usual bird feeders filled. As always Ken and Eddie did the rounds with the strimmers, followed by Vince with the leaf blower. It made a massive improvement to the paths.

Whilst clearing up I spotted this Yellow Bellied Fly, Sciara hemerobioides. These dark winged fungus gnats (Sciaridae) are a large family of flies, over 1700 species worldwide, normally these 10 – 11 mm long flies are quite drab in appearance, with black bodies and appendages and dark wings, however this one bucks the trend and has a yellow belly, hence the common name.

They are commonly found in moist environments, and some the larvae of some species are pests of commercial mushroom farms. The adults can be seen in a variety of damp habitats, such as heathlands and wetlands, where the adults feed on nectar from umbelliferous flowers, such as above. The larvae feed on fungi and rotting vegetation.

As stated last week the field centre honey bees were making Queen cells, however for some reason they have dismantled them and killed any developing grubs…. so for now the swarming is unlikely.

Thank you to all who helped today. Next Monday if any volunteers want to attend our special project and help out please do. I will put further information on the blog nearer the day.