Nikon

Bee Hotel #1

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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

MKW Designs – Spanish Sunrise (LS.108)

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Spanish sunrise photograph taken in Nerja, Andalucía with a Nikon D5500. Available as a framed print and on all other redbubble products.

Even walls need some brightness in these dark times.

MKW-LS.108 – https://www.redbubble.com/i/framed-print/MKW-LS-108-by-Darling2425/33485153.AJ1A3

My full shop with over 1200 unique MKW designs is here – https://www.redbubble.com/people/Darling2425/shop

(c) K Wicks

World Bee Day 2021

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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.

Buff-tailed bumblebee
Long horned bee
Oblong woolcarter bee
Carpenter Bee
Red tailed bumble bee
European Dark Bee
Hairy-footed flower bee
Ruderal bumblebee
Amegilla bee
Early Bumblebee
Honey Bee

(c) K Wicks

Noble False Widow

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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

Garden spiders UK – updated

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This is an updated post as since doing the original one a few of weeks ago, I found three more!

Amazing how many different spiders there have been just in my small garden. I have listed all the ones from the last two years and hopefully will get more this year. And because I have a number of pics for each, I think a post showcasing each of them will soon come as well 🙂

Orb Weaver
Orb Weaver
Wolf Spider (Pardosa)
Crab Spider
Zebra Jumping Spider
Zebra Jumping Spider
Green Meshweb Spider
Spotted Wolf Spider (Pardosa)
Candy-striped Spider
Nursery Web spider
House Spider
Noble False Widow
Missing sector Orb Weaver
False Widow

(c) K Wicks

Abstract planet – oil drops

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Now I have a few more techniques for backgrounds (when I say technique, I actually mean various sheets of coloured card) I am really enjoying creating even stranger effects with good angles and a bit of lighting. This one almost looking like a planet I thought. Although oil drops can be fun, you have no control over them and a short time to get the shot before it changes, but being honest, that’s part of the fun!

(c) K Wicks

Wasps

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I hadn’t realised there were so many different types of wasp until I started taking photos of nature. Not just the variations of your classic yellow and black one, of those there are many. But the more unusual ones I hadn’t realised were part of the wasp family until I looked them up. I will start with the classic one though, and I have a few good shots of these so they may get their own post.

Paper Wasp – Spain
Yellow Jacket Queen Wasp – UK

I believe this a Queen wasp. I only noticed it at first in the garden because I could hear a scrapping sound on the fence and saw this large wasp chewing the wood off in small strips! Apparently this is what Queen wasps do to prepare the nest for eggs.

Ruby-tailed Wasp – Spain

This wonderfully coloured little beauty is a Ruby-tailed wasp, which is a type of cuckoo wasp. If you know what cuckoos are known for then you’ll know why they are named so. Laying eggs in another wasps nest is their thing.

Black and Yellow Mud Dauber Wasp – UK
Velvet Ant – Spain

You may think, why would you put an ant, which clearly looks like a spider, in with the wasps? Well, I was surprised to find out this is a wasp! The females are wingless and look like hairy ants as you can see. And to add to the strangeness of these little insects, when you disturb them they squeak.

Mammoth Wasp – Spain

We didn’t get to see many of these, but was nice to catch a couple of pictures here and there. They are quite big like carpenter bees and just as cool.

Red Paper Wasp – Spain

I think this is a red paper wasp, and as you can see I didn’t get a great picture and it was only one.

Cicada Killer Wasp? – Spain

Again, not the greatest picture, but only a small window as this guy did not linger. After much trawling through pictures and species, I think this is a Cicada killer wasp, but it does have lots of similarities to hornets and even some types of bee, so please feel free to correct me if I have got this one (or any of them) wrong.

(c) K Wicks

Brown Argus

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A pretty little butterfly that was extremely plentiful in Spain, hopefully I can entice more into my garden this year, but will have to see what grows to help with that. But this one was great to photograph as it didn’t even seem to notice me most of the time.

(c) K Wicks