Technologically-aided Identification II: Pooter

Computers and the Internet are becoming more and more frequent in everyday use. Even, it appears, when out on fieldwork. Many people now own smartphones, each with the capacity for a miniature identification guide, or two. But what really caught the Bristol team’s eye was an app for the iPhone called Pooter (http://www.pooter.it/). The idea is to take plenty of photographs of bumblebees and then identify them yourself, with different species earning different points, depending on the rarity of the species in question. The Bristol team have found it to be an excellent way of sharpening up one’s identification skills in a friendly, competitive manner.

The great yellow bumblebee (Bombus distinguendus)  is found in the Outer Hebrides, and not in Cornwall or Kent. The large black, thoracic stripe is characteristic, as well as the heavily striped abdomen. Photograph courtesy of Dr. Lynne Osgathorpe. 

There are problems, however. As you can imagine the identification skills of members of the public are not quite up to scratch, even with relatively characteristic fauna like bumblebees. Pooter, like all games and competitions, is liable to cheaters. For instance, the rare great yellow bumblebee, Bombus distinguendus, (worth a massive 200 points!) is localised to the Outer Hebrides, yet –  according to Pooter – can be found as far from Scotland as Cornwall and Kent. The Bristol team think some people are a bit too optimistic for the improvement of the great yellow’s conservation status. 

The demise of a pollinator

Whilst sampling in Caversham last week, we came across this crab spider Misumena vatia (so-called because of its general appearance – spiders belonging to this family, Thomisidae, have the first two pairs of legs longer than the rest, can walk forwards, sideways and even backwards!) feasting on a hoverfly. Females of M. vatia blend in with their background, and are commonly found on white or yellow flowers; as such they can vary in colour from white, yellow or light green.

 

Online identification using iSpot

The Bristol team recently became aware of a website called iSpot (http://www.ispot.org.uk/), an Internet resource that makes identifying that troublesome butterfly that tiny bit easier. Unlike Pooter, iSpot is an online community of enthusiastic naturalists who collaborate to identify of unknown insects one chooses to upload, with identifications reviewed by other members to ensure it is correct. The Bristol team tested iSpot out with the photograph above. We saw this wonderful insect in an allotment in north Bristol, huddling from the wind. It was large (about an inch long), a very hoverfly-like head with large eyes, but the two pairs of wings us back to bee. Do you know what it is?

Undecided, we submitted it to iSpot. Not 12 hours later – success! A positive identification came back as a honey bee drone. iSpot is wonderful online community that all of us at Bristol have joined. And we suggest you do too.

Confusing Yellow Compositae....

Do you know your Leontodon from your Hypochoeris? Or your Taraxacum from your Crepis?

Our glorious yellow wild flowers are synonymous with summer and ooze sunshine even on the most drizzly of British summer days. But look at those yellow flowers in any grass field and you are looking at more than just dandelions (Taraxacum agg.)! The chances are that there are also cat's ears (Hypochaeris radicata), hawk's-beards (Crepis spp.), hawkbits (Scorzoneroides autumnalis, Leontodon saxatalis and L. hispidus), and possibly nipplewort (Lapsana communis) or mouse-ear hawkweed (Pilosella officinarium).

Take a look at the rosette of leaves at the base of a single proud yellow flower. Are they very hairy and is the stem of the flower branched and leafless? It's probably a cat's ear. The flowers of hawkbits (Scorzoneroides autumnalis, Leontodon spp.) can look very similar to cat's ear's. Rather unhelpfully, they also tend to both grow in the same place. To distinguish them you'll need to look carefully at the basal rosette of leaves. Are they nearly hairless? And the flower stalks are branched and leafless? Then it is probably an Autumn hawkbit (Scorzoneroides autumnalis – which also, confusingly, flowers well before Autumn – in fact we found it flowering in a pavement crack back in May). Or are the leaves very hairy and hairs forked on the tip (fold the leaf and inspect the hairs against the light)? Is the flower stalk unbranched? The plant is probably a rough hawkbit (Leontodon hispidus) or lesser hawkbit (L. saxatilis).

Who would have believed these are 4 different species of yellow composites: Crepis capillaris (left), Scorzoneroides autumnalis (bottom), Leontodon saxatilis (middle), Taraxacum agg. (top)

On the other hand, is the stem branched and slender, with small leaves along the stalk it's probably a hawk's-beard (and more than likely to be Crepis capillaris – smooth hawk's-beard).

Of course, we'd be generous with the truth if we said that this was an exhaustive list of the flowers you might find growing in a field that are yellow and dandelion-like. But these are the common ones and the chances are they're in a field near you.

These yellow Composites (named after the Daisy family of flowering plants) are a challenging group of flowers to distinguish, but if you're still keen, then pay a visit to an (unmown!) urban cemetery, parkland or road verge, and have a look at the flowers. There's no need to even identify the species...just observe and appreciate the diversity in one small patch of urban grassland. Or even in a crack in a pavement...

The churchbees

Today we had quite an exciting adventure, a little bit different from the normal pollinator sampling. One of the churches where we sample pollinators in the churchyard asked us for help. They have bees living on the bell tower and a churchwarden got stung. We had to establish what kind of bees they have and if they are really a threat or not.

So we met up in the morning to look at the bees. This was quite adventurous and involved quite a bit of climbing narrow ladders, balancing over beams in the bell chamber and climbing to the top of the bell tower roof, crawling along wooden planks and out through a narrow opening onto the tower roof (see pictures below where Sam is climbing one of the ladders and looking trough the narrow opening on the tower roof).

And there were the bees, busy flying in and out of a ventilation pipe on the balustrade in a corner of the roof (see picture below). And they were obviously honeybees . Apparently they live there for about 4 years now and must originate from an escaped swarm of honeybees from a hive somewhere in the area. They seem to be quite happy there as they have not moved out yet. There are also quite a lot of flowers in the churchyard below, in gardens and on allotment sites nearby for foraging.

After we established that the honeybees are no threat if they are left alone they got an "official" residence permit from the churchwarden. So the bees can carry on foraging now and we carried on with our sampling.

Trooper's Hill

Congratulations to all the Urban Pollinator teams across the nation. We have finished sampling all of our cities once! Now to do it all again…

The Bristol team have been held back somewhat due to the inclement weather, but we finished our first round on a high – both in terms of temperature and elevation! The weather for the week of fieldwork was extremely helpful, with temperatures consistently exceeding 25°C and beautiful blue skies. Trooper’s Hill – a nature reserve by the side of the River Avon with breath-taking views over south Bristol – was our last stop. A section of our transect was running through deep heather that was shimmering with bees. Three hours later, with considerable tan lines, we emerged triumphant with Bristol’s record haul!

Here be dragons

As well as bees, flies and butterflies, we're always on the look-out for other denizens of our local urban wild (and not so wild) places.  Some, like the tiny parasitic wasps, ladybird larvae and froglets that we've come across recently, are easily overlooked, being small and secretive.  Others are less so, like this fabulous dragonfly we spent a pleasant lunchbreak watching at some Leeds allotments yesterday.

If you look closely, you can see that the lower, port-side (that's left, to you landlubbers ;) ) wing is cloudy and slightly deformed, though this didn't seem to affect his ability to fly strongly and fast.