The press made quite an issue if its being Earth Day and seemed to be grasping the idea that if things go on as they are we are going to be in deep trouble before the end of this century. Drought, fire, flood, starvation, disease, riots, war, maybe nuclear. We, in global terms, may be able to mitigate the worst by carbon capture, less use of fossil fuels, change of diet and so forth, but I think it is too late. Some of us might survive, but what would then be the forward plan? The Extinction Rebellion demo in London today was popular with great crowds but it won't divert the rush of the Gadarene swine enough to stop most of us going over the cliff.
At least GSN3 put on a good face. It was warm and sunny, the first flowers (dandelions) were out and there were wild bees and other insects on hand for pollination. The picture below shows what I think is an early-flying Andrena mining bee well buried in the dandelion's petals. The insect on the lower edge of the flower is, I think, a big-headed fly (Pipunculidae) with its characteristically sub globular red compound eyes occupying most of the head with protruding antennae.
Pipunculids can hover like hoverflies and their larvae are usually internal parasitoids of Auchenorrhyncha - plant hoppers and their relatives. There was another small bee sunning itself on a hogweed leaf: a Lasioglossum I think. It is good to hope that solitary bees may be doing better this year.
I was visited too by the first speckled wood butterfly of the year, probably emerged recently from a pupa. Both caterpillars and pupae commonly overwinter in our area. I am always struck by the way one or two butterflies of this species appear annually in the same small area. It is as though they have returned, like the swallows, from a faraway place, to home. But they are of course the children of last year's butterflies, now long dead. Do they, I wonder, sense the presence of their forbears or is there something special about the small, sunny glade in GSM3? The area they favour has good showings of false-brome and cock'sfoot grasses, both of which are foodplants favoured by the caterpillars.
As a bonus to the day's events, I spotted a small insect, maybe 3mm long, ascending a broken grass blade. It stopped at the top and was, I suspect, drinking from a drop of dew or sap. I am pleased to say that I have nit the slightest idea as to its identity, nor have I seen anything like it before. It is shaped rather like a tiny click beetle (Elateridae), but I don't think it is one of those. Suggestions welcome.
