The bee hotel has given me a great opportunity to watch the Bees doing their thing. Resting, gathering and nesting, its very cool. I’ll do more posts of them but this pic from last week is one of my favs.
(c) K Wicks
Bee in the hole
Wildlife
Nature in the garden – 29.05.21
Well, this was a top notch day for nature. Other than the activity at the bee Hotel, there was much occurring elsewhere in the patches and undergrowth.
Started with another bee because they are awesome and all over the bigroot geranium at the moment.
We had a fly stop for an extended shoot, perfectly landing in the sun and waiting for me to get my shot. He landed on the shed too so will get his own post soon.
This was small, not the tiniest I saw making a web, but has some growing to do before it gets to average size.
I know they aren’t bugs, but still daily visitors to the garden. Enjoying the little bench we put up for them.
These little guys were still around and after I put a geranium flower near one, it crawled right on! Have to say, very happy with this photo.
I haven’t actually seen one of these before so was a new find.
I rescued this little weevil from the bird bath, he was floating and trying to hold onto a small bit of something.
I don’t actually know what this one is, it seems to be a type of small parasitic wasp, but was tiny and didn’t stay still so my shots aren’t really good enough for a conclusive ID.
This beautiful red ladybird was just wandering through one of the beds. Hopefully there will be more.
There were a couple of things I couldn’t identify or get a good enough picture of. Baby spiders being very difficult, but this tiny orb weaver is already on it building a web. I’ll keep you updated on garden progress.
(c) K Wicks
Egyptian Grasshopper
This post is just for the Egyptian Grasshopper. We had many just hanging around in Spain, so good for photo opportunities. Not so good when you didn’t see them and they fly off catching you unaware.
(c) K Wicks
Nature in the garden – 27.05.21
Even though I know there are many different insects and species, I still get really excited to see them all. A bit of warmth and sunshine gave everything the long overdue push it needed. I’ll try and showcase the abundant days.
I can’t wait for all the flowers to open and bring more and more to the garden 🌼 roll on summer.
(c) K Wicks
Bee Hotel #1
So, I got a little bee Hotel a few weeks ago in the hope of helping the Bees a bit more. There are flowers, a water source with a little bird bath and now a little house for them. I’m trying to make my garden as insect and animal friendly as I can.
I didn’t think much had been going on in there, I work from home but am at the desk most of the day, most days at the moment. I caught a couple of Bees a few days ago squabbling over the same ‘tube’ but not much else. Turns out I wasn’t looking long enough.
So I was super excited yesterday to spend lots of time in the garden. There was buzzing around it fairly regularly, and to my delight, it was check in and out day at the hotel! Well, seems like that everyday I think.
What I did notice too was that one of the four bottom bamboo tubes was now ‘bricked up’ with mud. I had to check my first pic of when i put it up to be sure, but something is in there…
Turns out we have another visitor as well, scrunched into the side possibly waiting to hatch some little uns.
There was loads in the garden yesterday, I’ll do a post shortly to show yesterdays creatures, its looking like another warm day so who knows what we’ll see today 😁
(c) K Wicks
Tiny speckled bush-crickets
These little guys are super small, but once I saw one it was easy to spot the other two. Three little speckled bush-crickets happily getting some sun on the potato plants. Which has reminded me of how awesome bush-crickets are, so I may just do a bigger post with all the different ones I have photographed over the years. I’ve also been naming flies, bees and beetles, so there may be a few more nature posts coming up 🙂
(c) K Wicks
Hegdegog!
I really didn’t think I would ever see one in my garden as it appears to be fully fenced. But a few nights ago, our dog just wouldn’t come in and was extra interested in the far corner. I jokingly said its probably a hedgehog not believing it could be. But I was actually right!
Because the dog sniffed around so much, I think it was quite scared. I probably didn’t help by shining a light on it and taking pictures but wanted to document it being there.
I now know there is a small hole at the back of the fence behind the compost bin, so am glad nature found its way in. Our garden has an awful lot of snails, slugs and worms so think it’s well catered for. Hopefully it will visit again some time.
(c) K Wicks
World Bee Day 2021
I have been naming more bees this year from my old pics and seems there are more than I thought. There is a Bee Talk this evening with the Wessex Museum which I am quite excited about ‘attending’ so may know more later. But for now, here is a small selection of bees that I think I have named correctly for you to enjoy.
(c) K Wicks
Jumping Spiders
I have been trying to work out what all the little jumping spiders are. I knew there were lots of different ones, I just hadn’t realised how many I had seen. Once I started looking closely at my pictures, I started to notice quite big difference.
In Spain they were very friendly little spiders. In the UK, so not much and they are, well, jumpy. I figured the heat out there slows everything down, wildlife included. But I have still captured a number recently, they don’t stop for long if at all, so only a few UK ones included.
Some of the names may be off, but I think they’re mostly correct.
I just used to think there was one type of jumping spider, the little black and white one I called them as a kid. Now I know better!
(c) K Wicks
Noble False Widow
For days now I have been trying to identify a spider hidden its its home in a hole in the garden wall. I scared it at first with the camera flash, but after a couple of weeks it seemed to be less afraid and stayed put as I tried to see in the hole enough.
I suspected it was a noble false widow but needed a better view (I had posted the above pic on Twitter asking @BritishSpiders for some help, and that was the suggestion with only a limited view, but the white stripe gave it away it seems). Today, I noticed it was a bit further forward, and while I was trying to get a shot some flies landed near and tempted it out.
It didn’t seem to mind me being there, but also didn’t seem that motivated for the food either.
It came out for long enough for me to get a good shot for identification though, so I was rather pleased. Patience paid off (and just happening to be there with my camera in hand, so timing helped).
(c) K Wicks
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