Monday 4 June 2007

The Birds and the Bees.....and a Butterfly

Haven't been in the mood to blog for a couple of days, not sure I am now really! Fed up with lots of things, however, won't bore everyone with that too much, main reasons being the weather (crap, whilst the rest of the UK basks in summer weather, we get the cloud and rain as usual) and the fact that it could be that Irene will be gone by the end of next week, so pleased for her of course, it's what she wants to be back with her family, but of course will leave a big gap in my life.

Today was fairly nice, some sunshine and warm, so tried to cheer up a bit. Over the past two days have been to Irene's and done walks that I've put on here before, so didn't bother with any photos, the forestry and the bluebell woods twice (went again today) However, I was out in the garden earlier and the bush down by the fence was alive with Bees, four types, three different bumbles, including two HUGE ones, a few honey bees, a weird insect which I don't know what it was, and a beautiful Red Admiral butterfly, which posed nicely for me. It's a wonder I didn't get stung though I had my hands right in amongst the bees, within a few inches, I wouldn't dare be doing that with wasps...

Got some cute baby Great Tits around too, and a baby Blackbird, so got some nice photos of those, before they become too streetwise! Lots of anxious little faces around, as I'm now cutting right back on the feeding, only doing suet pellets, raisins and peanuts, I've got to stop encouraging the Greenfinches and Chaffinches here, want them to disperse, because there are so many dying. I've managed to catch 4 again this week, and there's still a couple more who have evaded me. So at least 10 have died again within the last two weeks.




















9 comments:

oldcrow61 said...

Wonderful pictures Jan. You are getting some great shots.

The Quacks of Life said...

flipping 'ell they are good

Mary said...

What a lovely lot of photos. I always think of bees as bees or bumble bees but looking at your photos I can see the different colours.

Karen said...

Fabulous bees, birds and butterflies!

Anonymous said...

You have some queen bees there Jan, maybe they hav nt found a nesting place yet, once they have young they don t come out again, think I may have one nest in my garden, have a few worker bumbles feeding, so there must be nests near by.
Sad about your birds, very upsetting seeing them like that.
Think the beetle might be a longhorn beetle, Pauline.

nicola said...

Very nice jan!!! Lack of sunshine here means that my flowers arnt really up as yet, but cant wait for all the buzzers in the garden again

Jan said...

Lack of sunshine here too nic, but if the bees waited for that, they would never feed!

Thanks everyone for the kind comments.

Anonymous said...

I came accross your page purely by accident while looking up tricho in finches! and I love it! what a great read!! My name is Shelby and I work at Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Center in Ayrshire, Scotland. Check out our web site....www.hessilhead.org.uk, let me know what you think...my addy is evilpthatsme@yahoo.co.uk. I'll defo keep up to date with your page! keep up the good work! - Shelby

Jan said...

Thanks Shelby, I will take a look at your website, let me know if you want me to delete this comment though, or at least your email address - you may get loads of spammers if they see this, I made that fatal mistake once!