The first common carder bee

Our garden survey is proceeding steadily, and we are now creeping up to 300 species. Still a long way to go until we get to the 1000th, but despite the warm and mild weather, insects haven't really got going yet.

We've had the moth trap on, and are getting very good catches, especially compared to last year when the cold weather meant that nothing much moved until the start of May. However, they've been heavily dominated by common quakers and other early spring species.

Surprisingly, despite a bumper crop of spring nectar sources, the numbers of bees has been very low, with almost no sightings of the usual spring solitary bees. This was one of the first common carder bees Bombus pascuorum of the season, looking very resplendent in its fresh golden furry coat - later in the year they can become much more drab and dark.

I had a good chat with Chris and Lizzy this morning on Skype, though we had to switch off the video as their broadband signal was poor. Despite some organisational difficulties in Sabah, they've seen some wonderful creatures, incluidng a wild orang-utan mother and baby, pygmy elephants and a close-up encounter with a tarsier. They're now in Sarawak for a couple of weeks, before flying out to Sulawesi. I'm really looking forward to having them home - it doesn't seem too far away now :)