Wildlife Corner

[Tripps]

What a wonderful country where they send a "Fresh and Clean" van to tidy up your cockatoos and then release them back into the wild - all nicely scrubbed up.

[Stanley]

Nicely spotted David.....

[Stanley]

The front garden in all its glory! I know that to a purist this is not a garden but a mess but it's full of life and I noticed last night that the local bats approve as well, there were a couple foraging for insects at dusk.....
(You can hardly see on this pic but two small bees were having sex on the large leaf. Or at least I assume that's why one was riding on the back of the other!)

[PanBiker]

You can hardly see on this pic but two small bees were having sex on the large leaf. Or at least I assume that's why one was riding on the back of the other!)

Worker bees which are the majority that you see foraging are all infertile females.

I have seen the same behaviour in our back yard and on closer inspection the bees were off loading pollen from one to another. I suppose it will be quite easy for a very active worker to get overloaded to the point that it overwhelms the ability to fly. Call a friend and get them to help carry the shopping.

[Stanley]

Interesting Ian. I was slightly puzzled by the behaviour..... Thanks for the help!

[PanBiker]

Bees are fascinating creatures, a lot of what they do defies the laws of physics and nature. If we were as organised and as clever......

[Tizer]

In our garden we put in lots of plants to attract insects but the one that the bees love most is marjoram. We have a large patch and it's heaving with bees in the sunny weather. When we walk past it they ignore us!
Marjoram survives winter in Somerset - does it do that in Barlick now that the climate is getting warmer? Not that it matters, if it dies in off in winter you just replace it with fresh next Spring. The ordinary marjoram is best and it's cheap to buy - you can often get pots of it in supermarkets or grocer's shops because of it's use in cooking.

[Wendyf]

Marjoram grows well up here, even at 1000ft. I have one, planted in a concrete breeze block, that has survived for nearly 25 years. My bee paradise at the moment is a patch of sedum which has escaped from a stone trough onto gravel. It is a mass of pink, frothy flowers right now, covered in bees and butterflies.

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[Stanley]

Susan mailed me the other day to describe something she had seen down in Kent. It was a Kestrel making a kill of a hedge sparrow on the hedge ten feet away and she had a ringside seat for the strike, the butchering and the eating. She said that afterwards she went to look and there wasn't even a feather to be seen.....