Tawny mining bees are nesting again!

Sunday 20th April

Today I was working down by the river (Derwent), and on the path edge something caught my eye. A small, volcano-like mound of soil spool at the foot of an ancient, sessile oak. I carefully put my phone on the path and managed to film a charming video of a preoccupied female tawny mining bee in all her gingery glory. This wonderful solitary bee forms a burrow of eggs and a food source of nectar from nearby flowering fruit trees. She will seal each egg complete with a store of nectar in a single cell which will then hatch, develop, hibernate before it emerges as an adult the following spring.

The great toad migration

Thursday 27th March

Each year at early spring, the Gibside estate sees a common toad migration en masse. It is quite the spectacle. Thousands migrate from their terrestrial hideouts back to the pond they spawned in to breed and carry on the cycle of this charismatic amphibian. Roads and paths are covered and require key intervention to prevent harm. Often you will see the ambushing males clinging on to a very tired, larger looking female on the approach to the water course. She will be fought over many times and you can’t help but feel sorry for the incessant attention she warrants. There is no romance here!

But, with a bit of luck it won’t be long before the surrounding vegetation is teeming with tiny, perfectly formed toadlets.