Even when there's not a flying thing in sight, you can spot pollinator presence in a habitat through the tell-tale signs some leave behind (and no, I'm not talking about really tiny footprints in the butter).
I've posted previously about bumblebees apparently supping on cornflower (
Centaurea) flowerbuds, before they were open - this is known as nectar robbing, and we saw it earlier in the season on a wide variety of plants, including Geraniums and Aquilegias. A bee will bite through the fabric of a flower bud (petal, sepal, or whatever is in the way) to get a meal at the nectaries that lay hidden inside. This will happen on flowers which are still closed, and also on those that have a trumpet longer than that bee's tongue. In the fullness of time, those flowers will open, and then you will see the evidence of crimes past - here, the holes around the edge of a bindweed flower - that were made while the flower was still curled up, and the petals folded together.
 |
| Bindweed flower, showing evidence of nectar-robbing |
Leaf-cutter bees (
Megachile sp.) take small, perfectly formed sections of leaf to make larval casings, using many plant species, such as bramble, honeysuckle, and trees such as this beech.
 |
| Leaf-cutter holes in beech leaves |
These leaf sections are taken away to a sheltered spot and rolled up around some tasty food morsel, all ready for the larva to emerge from the egg that's laid alongside it. A nice little parcel of pollinator potential!
Very interesting. We have to look out for holes in bindweed flowers now. We have seen holes in comfrey flowers and watched short-tongued bumblebees robbing nectar through the holes in comfrey flowers which are normally only accessible for long-tongued bumblebees. A hole made by one bumblebee was normally used by lots of other short-tongued bumbles.
ReplyDeleteWe have also seen roses in some gardens with the distinct cut out leaf sections like on the pictures you posted.
Yes, we've found similar - it seems, as with many things, that once you become aware of something, you suddenly see it everywhere!
ReplyDeletePeter and I spotted this in an allotment the other day - a very interesting example of nectar robbing!
ReplyDelete