OneGuyFromBarlick

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.

Nicely spotted David.....

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!)

Stanley wrote: ↑13 Jul 2025, 03:05 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.

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

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......

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.

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.

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.....

Black Swallowtail, Oklahoma's state butterfly and a frequent visitor to our garden in the early evenings. Lovely.

Great photo Mick. He looks quite big.

Morning Mick! Cathy is right, that pic is a bit of a miracle!

I planted an ornamental quince a couple of years ago by a fence in the back garden so that I could grow it up and get the fence covered in red flowers in early spring. I did the same on a fence at the front 8 years ago and it grew quickly and did the job very well. The one at the back didn't grow and in this very hot spell the leaves have mostly gone brown. I dug it up and popped it in a pot to put in the `rescue corner' of our garden and see it we can save it. I got it out with a trowel and when I lifted up the root ball two newts fell out, a male and a female! I've popped them in the damp mossy edge of our pond which is better for them than the bone dry clay soil they were in before.

I'm impressed Peter.... Far greener fingers than mine!

I reckon the newts will be happier and healthier , thanks to you Tize, and there will be some baby newts soon.

Morning Cathy.... I think you're right. He's good isn't he....

Sorry to spoil your romantic thoughts about newts Cathy but they don't pair up other than for mating in the pond. After that they go their different ways but they usually come back to the same pond in following years so perhaps they do meet up again! That's why I was surprised to find a male and female in the same small area of soil. Maybe they wanted to prove us humans have got the wrong idea about their behaviour!

"Maybe they wanted to prove us humans have got the wrong idea about their behaviour! "
It wouldn't be the first time we have been wrong..... Keep dreaming on Cathy!

We were out walking yesterday and Mrs Tiz spotted something unusual on an alder leaf. After further inspection she declared it to be a batch of baby Shield Bugs and I took a photo as shown below. Each one is only a few millimetres long. More photos and full details can be found on this web page although they refer to them as Parent Bugs: NatureSpot

The first thought that comes to my mind is well done that Woman! She must have good eyesight. (I wouldn't have known what they were..... )