Pollen beetles

After several days of fun and celebration , it was time to get back to work. I spent the day surveying grassland at Grafham Water NR. For much of the time the sky was gloomy and grey with the constant threat of rain, though there were a few sunny interludes.  

My last area of grassland proved to be particularly challenging. It hadn't been grazed last year, and as a consequence it was interlaced with bramble, whose thorny wands had insinuated themselves among the grass, making it very difficult to proceed without tripping or having the skin on my shins ripped. 

There were also dense stands of marsh thistles over 2m in height, which added an element of vertical spines. As I painfully negotiated my way round I noticed the sky getting darker, and eventually the heavens opened. There was nowhere to hide, so I just had to stand and hope that the shower wasn't going to last long. Luckily the sun soon emerged, and I was able to finish my survey in relative comfort. 

At the moment it's peak pollen beetle season, and virtually every bramble and thistle was coated with them - I'm not sure that I've ever seen them in such numbers!