A nice range of species seen in the western Mourne Mountains in Co. Down recently, including Andrena tarsata, Lasioglossum rufitarse and Dasysyrphus pinastri, which was a new one for me.

Large Sallow Mining Bee (Andrena apicata) female and male seen along the river Barrow in Carlow recently. An underrecorded species in Ireland, but the populations in this area seem to be quite strong and it was the most abundant mining bee during my visit. It's a willow specialist, peaking in April.

A nice surprise this week was finding Andrena praecox locally in Co. Armagh. This is the second NI record of this early spring species, which is generally very scarce north of Dublin. It's probably underrecorded due to its early flight period and habit of foraging high up in willows.

Two female Cheilosia grossa seen in Dublin and Wicklow recently. An attractive yet overlooked hoverfly which flies in March and April. The larvae mine thistles, so it's worth having a look on dandelions or willows growing close to thistle rosettes: species.biodiversityireland.ie/profile.php?...

Andrena apicata, Andrena praecox and Andrena clarkella males observed in Cos. Armagh, Dublin and Wicklow over the past week. The females shouldn't be too far behind, especially now that the pollen source of these three species, willow catkins, are starting to appear en masse.

Three bumblebee species, Bombus lucorum, Bombus terrestris and the most notable one, Bombus hypnorum, enjoying the winter heather in Armagh today. This species only arrived in Ireland around 10 years ago, but is now quite common in the northeast in particular.

It is an irrefutable fact that some endangered insects can't be identified without checking them under a microscope. How can we ever hope to understand their ecological requirements if you can't identify them? To illustrate this, these three bees are different species. One rare, two common.

Spruce Cone Bug (Gastrodes abietum) seen in Loughgall, Co Armagh. This species was first found in Ireland by @joshecology.bsky.social earlier this year and has since been found at three sites. It lives on the cones of Norway Spruce, so it's probably more widespread than current records suggest.

It's hard not to get dragged down by the negativity on Twitter, so thought I'd give this a go. Here's a lovely Heather Mining Bee (Andrena fuscipes) from the Mourne Mountains, Co. Down last year.