Buchan County Park u3a nature walk 23 July 2025

 Buchan County Park was fabulous on our Haywards Heath u3a nature walk this day.  We walked a circular route of c.3 miles, which can be seen at https://out.ac/Ic4ndv although a recording gap occurred.

Above a Beech tree probably blown over in the 1987 hurricane and growing vertically from the fallen trunk.

Knopper gall

Many oak trees were full of sticky Knopper galls caused by a wasp.

Acorn or Knopper gall wasp (Andricus quercuscalicis) became established in Britain during the 1970s and is now widespread. Eggs are laid during early summer in the developing acorns of Quercus robur. Instead of the normal cup and nut, the acorn is converted into a ridged woody structure, resembling a walnut, in which the gall wasp larva develops. The gall is initially yellowish green and sticky but later comes greyish brown. The next generation forms inconspicuous galls on the male catkins of Turkey oak, Quercus cerris.  Ref:https://www.rhs.org.uk/biodiversity/oak-gall-wasps

Knopper gall

This appears to be a Mast Year for oaks.

Marsh thistle with Bumblebees and a Crab spider

See https://sussexrambler.blogspot.com/search?q=crab+spider for my photographs and accounts of crab spider kills of butterflies, flies and a honey bee.

Ling Caluna vulgaris and Erica cineria Bell Heather

Heathers were starting to flower and this lowland heath promises to be spectacular next month.

possibly Marsh Hair moss Polytrichum commune

My thanks to Marion for spotting this Damselfly.

For info' on White-legged Damselfly click here for British Dragonfly Society site

possibly Nymphoides peltata yellow floating heart

Dozens of insects were moving rapidly in the water appearing white.  I wonder if the white appearance was an air bubble on a water beetle.

Looks like another '87 hurricane felled tree.

With six of us on this nature walk, many pairs of eyes find more interesting things than on one's own.

For dozens of earlier nature walks with Haywards Heath u3a, please see https://out.ac/IBoN9X

Potter wasp & a Leafcutter bee in Cuckfield, West Sussex, UK yesterday.

 

A potter wasp on a foxglove yesterday.

Potter wasps are diverse in nest building. The different species may either use existing cavities (such as beetle tunnels in wood, abandoned nests of other Hymenoptera, or even man-made holes like old nail holes and screw shafts on electronic devices) that they modify in several degrees, or they construct their own either underground or exposed nests. The nest may have one or several individual brood cells. The most widely used building material is mud made of a mixture of soil and regurgitated water, but many species instead use chewed plant material.

The name "potter wasp" derives from the shape of the mud nests built by species of Eumenes and similar genera. It is believed that Native Americans based their pottery designs upon the form of local potter wasp nests.^[2] The female wasp scrapes up mud or dirt with her mandibles and front legs, combining it with water and saliva to form a mud ball she transports back to adds to her nest under construction.  Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potter_wasp

Generally on the wing from June to August, and rarely during May, September and October

Potter wasps (or Mason wasps) Are tube-dwellers.  The egg hatches after a few days and the larva eats the prey in one to two weeks. When fully fed the larva may remain motionless for a day or two before it voids waste products from the gut and spins a cocoon. When winter diapause is absent the pre-pupal stage lasts for about one week, followed by pupation. The adult appears about two weeks after the start of pupation. With winter diapause, the pre-pupal stage is extended for the winter season. After emergence the adult moistens the clay partition to facilitate an exit.  Ref:  https://bwars.com/wasp/vespidae/eumeninae/ancistrocerus-gazella

A Leafcutter bee, a Megachile sp. possibly, although a bit early for this species. Ref: https://bwars.com/index.php/bee/megachilidae/megachile-willughbiella

Bumblebees in a West Sussex garden today

 

Buff-tailed bumblebees mating.  The male is much smaller than the queen.

See also https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/learn-about-bumblebees/species-guide/buff-tailed-bumblebee/

Red-tailed bumblebee 

https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/learn-about-bumblebees/species-guide/red-tailed-bumblebee/

Buff-tailed worker collecting pollen on Yellow rattle flowers.