On a wonderfully sunny morning in early May, looking for a suitable location for my PhD fieldwork, I discovered a flower patch near the ocean where the wonderful ‘triumvirate’ of Glebionis segetum, Silene uniflora, and Lotus creticus lured a wide range of pollinators. While recording the bumblebees foraging on the Lotus, I tried to ‘catch’ as many insects as I could with my phone.
Of the three flowering plants, the beautiful, dark yellow flower of corn marigold (Glebionis segetum) attracted the most flower-visiting insects from the little dance fly (Rivellia syngenesiae) to the furry buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris). Moreover, I saw some little wild bees, a good-looking wasp species: the European tuble wasp (Ancistrocerus gazella), four hoverfly species (Eristalis arbustorum/tenax, Episyrphus balteatus, and Eupeodes corollae), one of my favourite flower visitor flies: the locust blowfly (Stomorhina lunata), the shiny bodied common European greenbottle fly (Lucilia sericata), and many smaller flies. Honeybees (Apis mellifera) appeared a little bit later than other bees, but they were also represented in this little paradise of the shore.
An undisturbed flower patch and how many insects are there…
