The Open University Pollinator Watch Guide to identifying a selection of insect pollinators by Andy Morris, Clare Lawson and Kate Bradshaw Introduction What to do The sight and sound of a buzzing honeybee, flitting On a sunny day spend some time outside, in your between brightly coloured flowers, is synonymous with spring garden or on a walk, looking at the different insects visiting flowers. How many different types of insect and summer, although honeybees are not the only insects to do you see? visit our flowers. In fact, there are many different species of bee, as well as other types of insects that pollinate our crops Don’t forget to take photos of your insects so that and flowers. This includes butterflies, moths, wasps, flies and you can upload them and share your observations even beetles. with others. Your photos might also be handy when you come to identify your insects later. This guide will help you to discover the variety of insects that are important visitors to our flowers. Although there are many different types of insects that visit flowers, we have focused on Some insect basics three groups you are likely to come across in your garden, or • All insect bodies are divided into three parts; the whilst out for a walk, this spring and summer. head, thorax and abdomen. • They have two antennae on their head. Flies Bees and wasps Butterflies and moths (Diptera) (Hymenoptera) (Lepidoptera) • They have six legs attached to the thorax. There are some characteristic differences between these three groups, which will help you to distinguish between them. • For example, flies (diptera) have one pair of membranous wings while bees and wasps (hymenoptera) have two pairs. • Butterflies and moths (lepidoptera) have wings Photo © Kate Bradshaw Photo © Kate Bradshaw Photo © Ian Kirk, CC BY that are covered in tiny scales. Marmalade hoverfly Honey bee Orange tip butterfly Episyrphus balteatus Apis mellifera Anthocharis cardamines 1 The first group of insects in the guide are hoverflies. They are a large group of insects and have an important role in pollination. Many hoverflies are mimics of bees and wasps, sporting the characteristic yellow and black banding on their abdomen. So how can you tell the difference between bees and wasps? Hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) Bees and wasps (Hymenoptera) Hoverflies have: Eristalis sp. Apis mellifera • just one pair of wings • fast hovering flight (most species) longer • no pollen basket antennae Episyrphus balteatus Vespula vulgaris Photo © Kate Bradshaw Photo © Kate Bradshaw pollen basket Bees and wasps have: • two pairs of wings, but this can be very hard to see on live insects • slower flight, not hovering (except in a few species) Kate Bradshaw shorter antennae © (most hoverflies) • female bees have a and large eyes pollen basket Photo © Trounce, CC BY Photo 2 Examples of hoverflies and other flower-visiting flies Hoverflies are not the only flies to visit flowers, you might also see the bee-fly and dance-fly. 3 Hymenoptera: bees and wasps Photo © Bob Peterson, CC BY Photo © Trounce, CC BY 4 Examples of bees Bees can be divided into three groups, bumblebees, honey bees and solitary bees. Solitary bees Honey bees and bumblebees are social bees and live in colonies. Lasioglossum sexstrigatum Apis mellifera Honey bees are social insects with a queen, workers and males. Photo © Kate Bradshaw Kate Bradshaw © Photo Photo © Kate Bradshaw Bumblebees are large and furry. The ‘waist’ is less obvious than for solitary bees. ‘True’ bumblebees Kate Bradshaw live in colonies comprising © a single queen and multiple Andrena haemorrhoa Photo smaller workers, all of which The majority of bees are solitary; they do not are females. Later in the have a nest where individuals perform different season new queens and males roles. Solitary bees collect pollen and/or nectar are produced. There are Kate Bradshaw and use this to provide for their young. They © six widespread bumblebee have a conspicuous waist and tend to be smaller Bombus terrestris species in the UK. Photo than bumblebees. 5 More about bumblebees Bumblebees can be divided into three groups depending on their colour; red tail, white tail or ginger in colour. Red-tailed bumblebee Buff-tailed bumblebee Common carder bee Bombus lapidarius Bombus terrestris Bombus pascuorum Only the Bombus terrestris queen has a buff tail. The males and workers have white tails. Widespread distribution and abundant. Bradshaw Kate Kate Bradshaw © © Queens and workers are jet black This all-ginger bee is very Photo with a red tail, whilst males have Photo distinctive, though queens yellow facial hair and bright yellow have creamy-white sides to bands on the thorax. Photo © Kate Bradshaw their thorax and males are often yellower. Widespread Photo © Gail Hampshire, CC BY Tree bumblebee and abundant. Bombus hypnorum Cuckoo bumblebee The tree bumblebee arrived species have only males and in 2001 and is found in a females, which are similar in wide range of habitats across size to the true queens. The the UK, although it has a female cuckoo usurps a true queen, taking over her nest. preference for suburbs and The true queen’s workers switch to collecting food for the cuckoo woodlands. Considered the female’s offspring. Cuckoos usually have the same pattern of fur seventh widespread species. colour as the bee’s nest they lay their eggs in, although they can be identified by some minor differences. Photo © Kate Bradshaw 6 Butterflies and moths There are roughly 60 species of butterflies that you can The species you will see around your home will depend on expect to see across Britain and Ireland. Some species are factors such as how close you are to woodland, hedgerows, migratory, and their numbers can fluctuate significantly meadows or parkland. If you have a garden, its size and from year to year. Others are incredibly localised and the variety of plant life it supports will also be significant. might only be seen in a particular location. Different Wherever you are, you should expect to be able to spot species will also be evident at different times of the year. 6-12 different common species. The hot windless days of high summer are when numbers tend to peak but it is quite possible to see butterflies for at However, it will also be useful to know whether you are least ten months of the year. looking at a butterfly or a day flying moth. What is the difference between a day flying moth and a butterfly? Moth Butterfly Photo © Sharp Photography, CC BY-SA The gatekeeper, like most butterflies tends The six-spot burnet, like to rest either with its many moths, tends to wings spread in a raised rest with its wings back position, or with wings and close to its body. It folded together (moths also has a fairly chunky can often rest with body, as most moths do. wings spread flat). It also However, it is atypical in has the typically long that it has long, fairly thin thin antennae of most antennae: most moths butterflies as well as a have short and sometimes relatively slim body. feathery antennae. It can be found on grasslands Gatekeeper such as chalk downland, Pyronia tithonus Six-spot burnet moth sandy heathland and Photo © Kate Bradshaw Zygaena filipendulae woodland clearings. 7 Some butterflies you might see at home Red Admiral Small Tortoiseshell Painted Lady Vanessa atalanta Aglais urticae Cynthia cardui This is a large A medium- A relatively common and eye-catching sized, intricately migrant but seen in very butterfly with its patterned butterfly. variable numbers each flashes of white It is common, year. In some years and red on large widespread and they remain rare and dark wings. It is can be seen only reach southern widely distributed through much of England. In other years and seen through the year. It can be they will reach the far much of the year found on a wide north of Scotland and (usually from range of plants. be a common sight early March until Whilst it remains a everywhere. They early November). common species, are best seen in high It is a strong flier its numbers summer, from June to and migrates can fluctuate August and are fairly Kate Bradshaw Kate Bradshaw Kate Bradshaw © significantly so it easy to identify with © to and from the © Mediterranean is an important their large, intricately each year. species to monitor. patterned wings. Photo Photo Photo Peacock Brimstone Large White Inachis io Gonepteryx rhamni Pieris brassicae Kate Bradshaw © Photo Photo © Matt Prosser, CC BY Photo © Sharp Photography, CC BY-SA This is perhaps the most spectacular of the common This is often the first butterfly of the year to appear and A very common and widespread butterfly, also known butterflies, displaying distinctive ‘eye’ wing markings it is not uncommon to see it on the wing as early as as the ‘cabbage white’ after its habit of eating through which appear to mimic those of a predatory bird. It will February and into late autumn. It is common across much the leaves of brassicas. It is large and predominantly feed on a wide range of plants but almost always lays of England, Wales and Ireland but rare in Scotland. A large white, with black wingtips and a few black wing its eggs on nettles. It is widespread but less common butterfly, the paler female can be mistaken for a Large markings (more on the female than the male). Usually in the Scottish Highlands and can be seen throughout White but it has no black wing markings. The male is a seen from April to September. much of the year. brighter yellowy-green. 8 Some useful references Flies and hoverflies Dipterisits