Hello,

No significance is drawn. It is just an observation. Last year the
Common Bee-fly was first recorded by me on 3 April 2005.

http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Flies2.html

There is a tendency for butterfly first day reports to be the same
throughout the county or country. This may be more likely to be
weekends because observers' are about more.

Now its raining and I could not get out yesterday to enjoy the
sunshine for a variety of reasons, not even briefly because of a
multiple puncture requiring a new tyre and inner tube.

Therefore, the Shoreham reports are skewed out because of an absence
on the day which was very promising for butterflies.

This is always the case for reports though. Beach reports even more
so because the weather and the tides have to coincide.

Sometimes, after a lot of observations it is possible to make a
hypothesis. Sometimes, they can be repeated so often that they can
become almost fact. Sometimes, wrong conclusions can be drawn from
observations.

The first Dotted bee-fly observed by me 16 days before was seen in
the vicinity of where the plant Ground Ivy is known to grow. However,
this plant only seems to be flowering a few days ago. My first record
is on 18 April 2006. But again this is just observer information. It
probably started flowering earlier and I just missed it. B. discolor
was reported by other observers to also visit primroses.

There have been other records of the Dotted Bee-fly at almost the
identical time of mine from across Europe, Germany, not only Sussex.

Other reports of B. major from Sussex as well. Found them today:

http://www.diptera.info/forum/viewthread.php?
forum_id=5&thread_id=1398#post_5579

This is an interesting thread. They do seem to have been seen in the
last day or two. i.e. when people in the warmer weather. I have only
just looked at this page.

I am a great believer in keeping the management of wildlife sites and
the biological recording separate. The observations should come first
and the management later. Not the other way around where the facts
can be cherry picked to fit the management decisions.


Cheers

Andy Horton.
glaucus@...
><< ( ( ( ' >
British Marine Life Study Society (formed 6 June 1990)
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Shorewatch Biological Recording
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/watch2.htm

><< ( ( ( ' >



--- In british_insects@yahoogroups.com, Lancing Nature
<lancing.nature@...> wrote:
>
> What possible significance is it that you found this 16 days later
than
> the discolor?
> individual sightings do not show a pattern.
>
> Ray
>
> glaucus25 wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > First local (Adur, Sussex) B. major Bee-fly recorded today. In a
> > garden.
> >
> > http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Flies2006.html
> >
> > This was 16 days later than B discolor.
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Andy Horton
> > glaucus@...
> > Adur Valley (West Sussex VC13) Nature Notes
> > http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2006.html
> > Adur Valley Nature Notes: April 2006
> > http://www.glaucus.org.uk/April2006.html
> >
> > View and upload your Sussex Wildlife Images to:
> > http://www.flickr.com/groups/sussexwildlife/
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In british_insects@yahoogroups.com, "GORDON" <gordon_jar@>
> > wrote:
> >
> >>Hi there,
> >>
> >>Yes there are both B. major and B. discolor, in my garden in
East
> >
> > Sussex. Also both in the surrounding area .
> >
> >>
> >>Gordon
> >>
> >>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > We hope you will not want to unsubscribe! But to do so, send an
email to:
> > british_insects-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> >
> > Remember: You can always set your subscription to "daily digest"
if too many emails are clogging up your inbox!
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>