Great yellow bumblebee. |
Did you know:
- Cuckoo bees lay their eggs in other bees' nests?
- Bee-flies are not bees but they are furry like bees and also lay their eggs in bees' nests.
- Bee-flies rub dust on their eggs to make them darker and heavier.
- Ivy bees are just about the last bees of the season to emerge. They sleep for most of the year.
- Violet carpenter bees are coming to our area. They are huge.
- The rarest and biggest bee in the UK is the great yellow bumble bee but it is only found near Cape Wrath.
- Worker bees sting but don't mate. That's because their sting is actually their modified sex organ.
- Look out for tree bees next year. After colonising the UK in 2001 they are coming to Paxton. They often nest in bird boxes.
- If you look at comfrey flowers you can often see a hole in the petals where a short tongued bee has bitten a hole to suck nectar through.
Violet carpenter bee. |
Our thanks to Brian for another brilliant talk on insects. On the other hand........
While the audience of fifty plus was assembling, I looked out the window to see a kingfisher perched on the edge of Weedy Pit. Migrant blackbirds and redwings were feeding on berries in the car park and I was tempted to sneak out for a better look. I didn't tell anyone as the there would have been a mad rush for the doors.
While I wasn't looking out of the window, the following happened:
"Just after arriving this afternoon I spotted the Great White Egret landing at the back of Weedy Pit. This seemed to drive out a Bittern which led to a “Face Off” for a minute or two. I took several pictures and have attached one for you."
Derek Hale (A birder from the IOW)
Thanks Derek. Nice one!
Photo by Derek Hale. |