Biodiversity – Wild Garden Travel

Posted on 9th Jul 20199th Jul 2019 by sarahjwm

Swarming Bees in my Garden

We recently started keeping bees in our garden and during this hot weather one of them swarmed. It was amazing to watch, and to see them walk up into their new home in such an orderly manner.

The swarm walking up into their new hive. We use Quadratic Hives which have a similar interior shape to a hollow tree.

Bees signalling by opening their Nasonov gland gland (the white area on their abdomen) and fanning their wings vigorously, to call all the other bees to the new hive entrance.

The swarm was shaken onto the bottom of the sheet. They then walk up into the new hive. The speed they walk up is amazing

Posted on 24th Jun 201924th Jun 2019 by sarahjwm

Monday’s bugs in the Rose Garden

The rose gardens at RHS Rosemore near Torrington, Devon are now at their peak. I went to look at what bug life they were supporting and found something I didn’t expect.

When I first saw this I couldn’t make out what I was looking at, it was tiny and I didn’t have my glasses. When I looked at my photos later I realised it was a bright green spider eating a fly.

These hover flies in their striking livery were really enjoying the roses

There were also a large number of tiny flies in amongst the stamens

A patch of Euphorbia attracted a variety of flying insects. The wings are beautifully iridescent

You can just see the wings as it takes flight, its legs heavy with pollen.

Posted on 20th Jun 201920th Jun 2019 by sarahjwm

Thursday’s garden – leaving home from the pond

I love wandering around my pond in waders, just watching the tiny insects in the sunshine. Today I watched a damsel fly drying its wings after leaving its chrysalis.

The Damsel’s wings are still folded and damp after emerging from the chrysalis on the left

It is making it’s way slowly to the top of the water lilly leaf to get into the sunlight

Slowly spreading out its wings to fully dry in the breeze

Nearby a water boatman was hanging from the meniscus with its jaws just below the surface. How scary would that be if he was larger and you looked down to see those eyes staring back at you?

Meanwhile this water beetle was skating across the surface

And a different type of water beetle was crazily rushing about in ever increasing circles

Posted on 19th Jun 201919th Jun 2019 by sarahjwm

Wednesday’s flowers – A wet June day in an RHS garden

We cycled over to visit RHS Rosemore Gardens near Torrington, Devon this morning, which is beautiful even on a wet June day.

Liriodendron Tulipifera a tall specimen tree with these tulip like flowers high up on its branches

Astrantia major or Master wort. Fascinating flower structure close up

I love the iridescent wings and massive eyes of this hover fly

Wonderful green reflecting the light while walking over a watering can

Posted on 15th Jun 201916th Jun 2019 by sarahjwm

Saturday’s Garden – New Bees in our second hive #bees #beekeeping #ecology #biodiversity

We started bee keeping last year so we still have so much to learn. Yesterday we drove down to Cornwall to pick up our second hive of native bees.

Collecting the bees from Duchy College apiary. The bees are in the small wooden box called a NUC.

Unfortunately the entrance bung wasn’t secure and before long we had a car full of a couple of dozen bees. Bung back in, the loose bees were calm and well behaved on the 2 hour drive home.

We left the bees to calm down overnight in their little blue NUC

Then slowly moved them into their new home in the morning

We had a bit of resizing to do as we have Quadratic Hives which are a quarter of the volume and half the width of a conventional hive

Putting the resized comb into a Quadratic Frame

The Quadratic Hive was then fully reassembled. There are two hive towers next to each other in this picture

Then we left the bees in peace to calm down and clean up all the spilt honey

Posted on 9th Jun 20199th Jun 2019 by sarahjwm

Sunday’s Flowers – a time of proboscis and cheating bumble bees #biodiversity #bumblebees #wildflowers

We set off on our bikes down the green Devon lanes, panniers empty, for a visit to our local plant nursery. I saw so many bumble bees on the flowers in the hedges that today they will be the main feature.

Drilling a hole in the Red Campion with its proboscis to get directly to the nectar

Not only bees squeezing up inside the Foxgloves but also avoiding or cheating on the pollination route and drilling a hole directly to the nectar with their proboscis. Our return journey, panniers bulging with green leaves, was faster as the thunder rolled and the rain watered us, plants and all.