Bees

May. 4th, 2014 09:49 pm
bunn: (Wild Garden)
[personal profile] bunn
The Lonicera nitida is in full flower at the moment.  With its modest bushes and small creamy-greenish flowers, nobody would accuse Lonicera Nitida of being excessively flashy, but as a member of the honeysuckle family it has a lovely scent, and seems to be deeply beloved of the bees.

DSC06723
Is that a bee, or something bee-like?  It doesn't look quite as bumbly as the second one:

DSC06732

This bee- attraction makes the plant not beloved of poor Brythen, who loathes buzzing things and looks sideways at the Lonicera nitida and sits worriedly on his bottom whenever he goes near enough to hear the bees at work.

I don't seem to have noted many garden updates this year, although I've taken lots of photos.  I think the figs are ahead of where they were last year, I note that I did a fig update on 19th May 2013 with a photo showing figs at a stage very similar to these.
DSC06709

The bluebells  and blue geraniums are looking good - although I think these are mostly hybrids with Spanish bluebells, they look a little chunky to be 100% British bluebells.  The leaves are quite fine though and they do have some scent so they aren't entirely Spanish.
DSC06712

These further up the garden are the real deal though. Love the colour.

DSC06715

Date: 2014-05-04 10:14 pm (UTC)
marycatelli: (Default)
From: [personal profile] marycatelli
A bumble bee was trying to land on a bleeding heart this morning in my garden. It gave up. The wind was too much.

Date: 2014-05-05 08:17 am (UTC)
ext_189645: (Default)
From: [identity profile] bunn.livejournal.com
They have worked out that they are scientifically able to fly now, haven't they? I'm slightly sad about that, I loved watching bumblebees and thinking that they operated by small buzzing magics*...

*"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Date: 2014-05-05 12:39 pm (UTC)
marycatelli: (Default)
From: [personal profile] marycatelli
Yes. The model they were working with had the wings joined to the body at a fixed point. A bumble bee's wings in fact flex up and down.

Date: 2014-05-05 06:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wellinghall.livejournal.com
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from an ad hoc plot device.

Date: 2014-05-05 07:16 pm (UTC)
ext_189645: (Default)
From: [identity profile] bunn.livejournal.com
As a staunch Watsonian, I will go to almost any lengths to avoid believing in the existence of such things as ad hoc plot devices...

Date: 2014-05-05 12:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] huinare.livejournal.com
Bees! =D

Perhaps the less-bumbly one was a leaf-cutter bee (http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forums/insects-and-invertebrates/12902-leaf-cutter-bee-sp.html) of some kind.

Date: 2014-05-05 08:19 am (UTC)
ext_189645: (Wild Garden)
From: [identity profile] bunn.livejournal.com
Ooh, I never knew we had leafcutter bees here at all! (One day I shall try to learn more insects, I tend to stick at the 'that's some kind of... bee' level, which is a bit weak.)

Also, what a great forum thread "Was having a smoke after a couple of hours gardening and a leaf flew very slowly by, making a noise." :-DD

Date: 2014-05-05 12:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] puddleshark.livejournal.com
Lovely bee shots! The first one might be a Common Carder bee, possibly? They wear ginger furry weskits...

Your bluebells are so much bluer than ours... I was out photographing some this morning, but they came out disappointingly purple.

Date: 2014-05-05 07:19 pm (UTC)
ext_189645: (Default)
From: [identity profile] bunn.livejournal.com
Hmmm, could be! (could bee? :-DDD *groan*)

Based on my photographising yesterday, I have just formed a Theory of Bluebells, which essentially goes 'photograph them in the evening when the shadows are turning bluish anyway'.

Date: 2014-05-05 06:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wellinghall.livejournal.com
Nice bees :-)

Date: 2014-05-18 10:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jane-somebody.livejournal.com
Lovely pictures! I especially like (and am impressed by!) the second one, of the bumblebee in flight :-)

That particular colour you see in bluebells, and blue geraniums, and the more bluey-purple irises, is one of my very favourite colours in the world.

Profile

bunn: (Default)
bunn

January 2026

S M T W T F S
     123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jan. 2nd, 2026 10:15 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios