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This, I think is a male Mason Bee.
This one is
sitting on a Clematis Armandii Leaf
but there are
masses of them pollinating
the apple flowers.
These bees are quiet!
1st May 2012 |
I used not to like cowslips but, a couple of years ago I bought one. I thought I was being noble. I thought I was contributing to the salvation of a dyeing species. Now, it turns out, they've colonised motorway embankments and aren't going to be rare after all but, having bought it, I planted it. Then I grew more from the seeds it made - and I'm converted. They flower just as the daffodils end and there are bees which love them.
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| The cowslips in this trough are small because I didn't plant them out till late. Over to the right, you can see the strawberries which did well last year are a bit static this.
7th May 2012
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Taking a rest in the apple
blossom.
What a romantic bed!
Probably female Red Mason Bee
(Osmia (Osmia) rufa)
2nd May 2012
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If the blossom on the espaliered tree
is anything to go by,
it will be a good year for apples.
Lots of bees are on it too, busy pollinating.
7th May 2012
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Without the background drone of summer, your can hear early bumble bees the moment they come over the wall. They are VERY loud, instantly findable. I've been following them round with my camera. They stay are few minutes - then they are away and it falls quiet again. (If you ignore sparrows which sit on the edge of the guttering and yell.)
+-+MAY+2ND+2012+-+IMG_2902CRBR.jpg "Bee fly. (Bombylius major)") |
| Bee-fly. (Bombylius major) THIS IS NOT A BEE! I had not come across bee-flies until this year, but have seen quite a few in my garden over the last week. This one was large - about half an inch long, with a proboscis the same length. Here, it is hovering a couple of inches above the ground. Its wings are flapping so fast you can't see them. Bee-flies are pollinators but they are not bees. They flick their eggs into the burrows of bees and wasps. Then their larvae eat the stored food and the bee / wasp larvae. Now I know to look for them, I can track them in my garden because they buzz so loud!
2nd May 2012
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| This bumble bee, Common Carder Bee (Bombus (Thoracombus) pascuorum) (I think) is enjoying the wallflowers.
7th May 2012
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I'm enjoying bees at present. When foxgloves flower, later in the year, there will be non-stop buzzing. The noise can be overwhelming. At that point, I might change my mind!
How are your bees doing?
With thanks to Lucy Corrander and members of Ispot
for help with IDs.
5 comments:
My bees are finding more blooms and doing nicely...as the rain stops and the blooms pop up more they will be buzzing loudly here too!
We've had quite a lot of bees arouns the fruit tree blossom. I have never seen a bee fly although I've heard of them I will now be on the look out...
I thought your Bee fly had some unique method of propulsion but I see not. Don't think I have ever seen one before but I will keep a look out.
Hello Donna. Our rain has stopped (for how long . . . ?) but now the apple blossom is ending and the cowslips have dropped their petals, there are many fewer bees around.
Hello Janet. I hadn't heard of bee flies before I came across this one and found out what it was. I was completely taken aback by it and imagined it must be something quite rare. It isn't! Funny how one can go through life being completely unaware of things which are arresting but common. I haven't seen another since so . . . I reckon they're rare in my garden!
Hello Easygardener. The wings (which don't show up in the picture) were part of the interesting thing about the bee fly. They looked like black sticks sticking out on either side. I didn't get a chance to see them properly - ie when it wasn't using them!
Dear Everyone. You might like to know there's a new post on Esther's Garden Notes. It's more creatures, I'm afraid - cats and flies and snails . . .
http://goo.gl/HRGUj
Plan to be back with pretty and scented things for the one after. (Aquilegea? clover? mint?) !
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