Lovely day today in Ninewells wood. I was collecting fire wood for next winter, according to my Norwegian Wood book by Lars Mytting it should all be cut, split and stacked by Easter. However Easter was early this year and I have almost completed my store.
I also saw the first Wood anemone in flower today, as I have said Ninewells wood is quite high and exposed so whilst Wood anemones have been in flower for several weeks in most places, where I am it is a bit on the slow side.
As a bit of a break from the cutting and loading up of the logs, I had a roam about with my camera and took some photos of the smaller creatures in the woods.
There were a lot of Ladybirds and most were the Seven spot ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata.
I did find one that I had to look up and I think it is a Cream-streaked ladybird the sixteen spotted form Harmoni 4 punctate.
These two were obviously getting into the ‘Spring mode’ enjoying the sunshine.
There were also loads of tiny black spiders running about, quite difficult to photograph due to their small size and speed.
Also one which was a bit bigger and more obliging, I have not looked up either of them yet so any one who knows their names, please oblige.
The same goes for two bees, one is very obviously a form of bumble bee and I think it could be Bombus sylvestris??? which is actually a cuckoo bumble bee.
This second one I am really struggling with, any ideas all you experts out there.
There were also 2 Chiffchaffs singing along with blackbirds and wrens, an altogether nice day but my wood store is still not quite full so more wooding and less photos next time.
Ninewells Wood 
Good to hear you are getting some good weather. I would say the bumble is not sylvestris although I cannot see any corbicula. It looks more like a hortorum that has had a hard life up till now – long head and yellow hairs on both sides of waist. But I have given up going further than bumble with the bumble bees 🙂 Amelia
Thanks, I was hoping that you might give an opinion, I could see some yellow..ish hairs around the middle but very few and in my ID book it shows a lot more. I am glad that you, an expert, are finding the identification difficult because me, a novice, find it impossible. Any ideas about the other small brown chappy?
Firstly, remember I am far from an expert. It is too far away to see the other one but I saw a Carder bumble bee that looked very similar to that recently (remember there are different species of Carders and they are going to look different colours through the year.) From a distance I thought it was my first Andrena fulva of the year. 🙂
Thanks.