We drove down to the coast in bright sunshine, between verges gloriously full of flowers, dominated by the white of cow parsley but occasionally splashed pink with campion and foxglove.  Roadside hawthorn trees were full with blossom, their thick coating of creamy flowers encapsulating all the unfettered growth of spring.

Tantalising glimpses of azure water early in the journey merged into a full sea view as we dipped down towards Bantham, a small village on one side of the estuary of the river Avon close to where it meets the sea.  Here there is a popular sandy beach backed by extensive sand dunes, and a short distance off shore lies Burgh Island with its iconic art deco hotel (picture at the head of this post).  Bantham is also the premier surfing beach on the south Devon coast. This is a beautiful, relatively unspoilt place.

The tide was high when we arrived and the car park behind the beach nearly empty.  The surfers would be arriving later as the tide fell creating better sea conditions.  A few white butterflies moved about the scrub at the car park edge and from a nearby grassy field, I heard the “cronk” of a raven.  Not a bad spot to sit and drink our coffee.

Hazel wanted a longer walk and set off along the coast to the east whereas I walked up on to the Ham, a tongue of grassland set behind the dunes overlooking a final bend of the river Avon.  A meadow here is supposed to be managed for species-rich grassland and I had hoped to see plenty of flowers and corresponding wildlife.  Red campion and bladder campion grew by the paths and there were some stands of elderflower but the meadow itself was a disappointment.  Low growing flowers like speedwells and bird’s foot trefoil were evident but by the third week of May a meadow should be rich in native grasses and flowers and this was not.  I looked particularly at the bird’s foot trefoil for insects but drew a blank.  It looked as though the meadow had been cut rather late in spring, probably unnecessarily, removing many of the spring flowers and grasses. 

I walked on towards the sea along paths lined by ivy.  In the autumn, these will be thronged with ivy bees, bumblebees and wasps taking advantage of the late season forage when the ivy comes in to flower, but for now all was quiet.  Some seaside specialists such as thrift grew where the path reached the edge of the low cliffs above the beach but there were few other flowers and still no insects despite this mild coastal environment.  From the cliffs, though, there was a striking view of Burgh Island including a neatly planted group of a pinkish purple non-native wild gladiolus in the foreground (see picture at the head of this post).

I decided to walk inland to access the sandy dune path to head back towards the car park.  The dunes either side of the path are an arid environment and I hadn’t expected to see many flowers but there was one exception.  By the edge of the sandy path was a huge stand of kidney vetch covered in lemon yellow flowers nestling in their white, woolly cushions. Many of the flowers looked very fresh, and finally here were some insects taking advantage of this rich source of forage. 

There was one largish bumblebee moving about the flowers.  It looked superficially like a common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum), a species I see regularly.  I could also see several smaller bees coming and going from the clump. I was unable to identify these by eye so I took as many photos as the insects would allow, to help with identification. 

When I looked at the photos on a larger screen at home, I got some surprises.  The bumblebee did not have the typical markings of a common carder.  The abdomen was covered in yellowish hairs and I wondered if this was one of the rarer carder bees.  I don’t feel experienced enough to make that decision so I asked an expert (Matt Smith) who identified the insect as a brown banded carder bee (B. humilis), a rare species for the south Devon coast.  This species was “rediscovered” in 2022 a few miles along the coast, not having been seen in south Devon since 1978.  My observation supports the idea that there may be a small surviving population in the area. 

The smaller bees also provided a surprise.  Examination on a larger screen highlighted the golden bands around the abdomen and the general reddish tinge of the rest of the insect.  These are the characteristics of gold-fringed mason bees (Osmia aurulenta), another nationally scarce insect but more common on the coast, especially in sandy areas.  These are fascinating creatures, solitary bees where the mated females build nests in old snail shells. 

The photos also showed two other insects on the vetch that I hadn’t noticed, a hairy shield bug and a swollen-thighed beetle.  (see pictures below)

Both of the rare bee species I saw are typically found on sandy areas, often but not always near the coast.  They both like to forage on vetches such as kidney vetch and bird’s foot trefoil so the stand of kidney vetch and the dunes at Bantham are ideal for the species.  It would be good to know if there is more kidney vetch growing on the dunes but large parts of these are cordoned off for conservation purposes.  Deliberately encouraging kidney vetch would help support these rare insects.    

This brings me back to the meadow and its disappointing lack of flowers.  It would not be difficult to increase the number of insects here by managing the meadow flowers better.  This would also have the effect of supporting the local bird population.  The two rare bee species I saw would benefit from allowing the bird’s foot trefoil in the meadow to grow into larger plants by more thoughtful mowing and encouraging it to grow elsewhere.  Deliberate sowing with a suitable wildflower seed mix or by planting plug plants might also improve matters.

My observations underline what a special place Bantham is, but it needs careful nurturing to encourage the non-human world to prosper.   The ownership of the Bantham Estate changed hands earlier this year and this may affect how the meadow and the dunes are managed.