All entries for Sunday 14 April 2013

Pollen beetles are starting to emerge from 'hibernation'

Pollen beetles overwinter as adults and emerge when it begins to warm up in the spring. They feed on various flowers (often yellow ones such as dandelions) and later move on to feed on the flower buds of cruciferous plants (e.g. oil seed rape and weeds such as charlock) where they feed and lay eggs. It is the adults produced subsequently that sometimes damage horticultural brassicas. Today was the warmest day so far of spring 2013 and I spotted pollen beetles on several flowers including the coltsfoot shown below.

Rosemary Collier : 14 Apr 2013 19:31 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem