Sunday, June 05, 2016

Worth the pain

On the first really hot day of the year (as we West Coasters count hotness: up to 30°) I was glad to find an abandoned lane, shaded by heaps and mounds of blackberry canes, wild roses, tame roses gone wild, and little green apples. And, unfortunately, also by the beautiful and horribly invasive Japanese knotweed.

At the bottom of the hill, I found these:

Sweet rocket, Hesperis matronalis

And this:

Bee or bee mimic?*

*Update: Sweat bee, Lasioglossum. BugGuide id.

More from this lane, tomorrow. And there's a beach down at the bottom, a beach not made for walkers, all loose, round stones through the upper zone. I fell and bashed my legs and cut my foot, so the visit was cut short, and I took few photos. But I'll be back!

5 comments:

  1. Sounds like it was a bad place to fall - all those loose rocks must have hurt - hope you are healing quickly.

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  2. I'd vote for "bee", even though it's not any bee I've seen before. Antennae are long; eyes are oval. Not sure if those are accurate differentiators for bees, but that's how I've differentiated in the past from mimics.

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    Replies
    1. I've got an id from BugGuide. It's a sweat bee, Lasioglossum genus. http://bugguide.net/node/view/1234240#2158481

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  3. Tim, Yes, I thought it would be a bee because of the antennae, too, but I can't find an id for it. I'll send it to BugGuide.

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  4. Nora, yes, the blackberries are vicious. And I got into some thistles, too; spines all over my fingers. The dangers of our benign Pacific Northwest!

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I'm having to moderate all comments because Blogger seems to have a problem notifying me. Sorry about that. I will review them several times daily, though, until this issue is fixed.

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