Plight of the Bumblebee Part 1: Lifecycle

B.terrestris worker

Aside from the honeybee, just about the only wild bee species most people in Britain are able to name are the large, furry bumblebees in the genus Bombus. With 24 species in the UK, and around 250 worldwide, they are a small but conspicuous minority of the several hundred species wild bee species in the UK. Aside from bumblebees and honeybees, the other species are all solitary, with a single female provisioning their nest, usually in a hole which may be excavated in the ground, wood, or simply a hollow stem.

New Arrival: White-Belted Black and White Ruffed Lemur

Now on show at Wildplace is a new addition to their lemur collection, a young paid of the Northern or White-Belted Black and White Ruffed Lemur, Varecia variagata subcincta. This is one of three subspecies of V.variagata, plus the only other species of Varecia, the Red Ruffed Lemur V.rubra. Bristol Zoo has two V.rubra that are hand tame and are used in their daily animal displays, but these are non-breeding animals. The Wildplace pair will hopefully breed in the future, as they are a young pair.

On the Wing: The Large Blue Butterfly

Last Saturday I finally managed to see the Large Blue Phengaris (Maculinea) arion at Collard Hill Hill reserve in the Mendips. As they are on the wing for perhaps another week or so, there is not much of a time window to see one this year. As one of the rarest of British butterflies, and with one of the weirdest lifecycles of any butterfly, it is definitely one to look for.

New Arrivals: Yellow-Footed Rock Wallaby

Recently gone on show in the new Wallaby Walkthrough exhibit is a family of Yellow-Footed Rock Wallabies, Petrogale xanthopus. Originating from Queensland and the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, it is one of perhaps 17 species of rock wallaby which collectively are found all across Australia.

New arrivals: The Gouldian Finch

Gouldian finches, normal and white-breasted forms

Now on view in the small aviary behind the wallaby walk though is a small flock of one of the most colorful small birds in the world, the Gouldian Finch. This is one of the most distinctive of the Estrildid finches, a group commonly referred to as waxbills, which also include such familiar cage birds as the Zebra finch and Java Sparrow, although they are most closely related to the equally colorful parrot finches which are mostly found in more humid environments in southeast Asia and New Guinea.Originating from northern Australia, they are now classed as Near Threatened by the IUCN, and have a population in their restricted range of probably only a few thousand individuals, split into several much smaller sub populations