Wednesday, January 21, 2015

A Swarm of Bees







Whilst busy watering and feeding the animals and doing the other odd jobs that need doing in the morning, I noticed a large swarm of bugs in front of the old shed. I couldn't see what they were from a distance, so hurried down to the house to fetch my macro lens.
When I looked through I could tell they weren't honey bees, so there was no danger of being stung, so I went closer and found that it was a large swarm of native bees.
Ten varieties of our native bees are stingless, and I know these are one of those, so I was quite relaxed standing among them taking pictures. Then I spied where they were clearly busy building their new home, a hole in an old timber post. They weren't bothered by me at all, and despite the fact that they are harmless I still felt very privileged to get so close to their home.
They were such busy busy little creatures, and so speedy! There were hundreds of them flying in and out of their new home, which was decorated on the outside with some dropped pollen. I was so glad that I happened to be grazing the sheep in an old yard nearby that morning, as I'm not usually in that area at that time of day. If I hadn't been I wouldn't have been able to enjoy watching these fascinating little bees go about their work.

I hope they find plenty of flowers and pollen to eat and stay in their new home, I'm quite excited at the prospect of having such a large hive of native bees living so close to our veggie patch, and they're a good distance from our little fruit trees too.


I wonder what you think of bees, stingless or otherwise? Have you seen any interesting busy bugs lately?
Hope your world is good right now xx





PS I have finished my Pompom Hat! I am very, very happy with it and can't wait to share it here with you. It doesn't photograph well flat, so I'm waiting for a cool rainy day to get a picture of it, it's simply been too warm lately to wear a beanie even for ten minutes to take a photograph :-)

8 comments

  1. What a fantastic find!! And such amazing photos!!!! I think there is a bee movement happening all around the world!!! So fascinating indeed!!! Wishing you a great week Sarah!! Nicole xo

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    1. Thank-you Nicole :-) Hope you had a lovely week too x

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  2. Wow, amazing and what a privilege to be able to watch them like that. Your pics are fab! I love the fuzzy big bumble bees we get on our lavender bushes, but I absolutely detest wasps - they are pesky and annoy my dogs too.
    Hugs xx

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    1. Thank-you Gilly! I don't like wasps either, Paper Wasps to be more specific. I've been stung by them a few times. The little wasps we get in our garden are good though as they prey on 'bad' insects :-)

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  3. Gorgeous photos! Busy busy busy. I believe that we have lost some of our native bee varieties which seems such a shame. We have inherited from OS a 'wool carder bee' which also doesn't sting but is super territorial and lives a solitary existence. Very handsome .. and alive and well at our place. Nice to know that you have a stack of pollinators nice and handy :)

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    1. Oh that's sad to hear you've lost some of your native bees! Glad to hear you've got some others though :-) I am hoping these bees stay as they should be good little pollinators :-)

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  4. Fascinating Sarah and beautifully captured! Amazing creatures aren't they? x

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    1. They are indeed. Thank-you for your lovely comment x

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Maira Gall