Beardy...

I had nearly five hours of uninterrupted photography in Gamlingay Wood today while Pete and Chris worked The weather was mostly warm and sunny, and there was plenty of subject matter, ranging from tiny flea-beetles only a few millimetres in length, to the first marbled white butterflies of the season. I particularly loved the young Speckled Bush-cricket (see extra) which seemed poised on the edge of a dark abyss (metaphors everywhere!). 

I could have posted a number of images, but in the end have chosen this male bumble bee, which was posing so well on the top of a marsh thistle. Before today, I hadn't realised that the males of some species of bumblebee have bearded mandibles, which are probably used in the placement of pheromones to attract females. This individual has a very splendid ginger beard, which indicates that he is a Large Garden Bumblebee Bombus ruderatus, a much declined species of flower-rich grassland, particularly wet grassland, and more common in eastern England than anywhere else. It is the first time I've photographed this species, which superficially looks very like the much commoner Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum, the males of which have a black beard.