Well not exactly – at least going by the weather. I was going to do a post about beaches and sunshine, but we haven’t been to a beach yet this summer. We could have gone in the spring when we had lovely dry and sunny weather but we were in lock-down. Since mid-June we have been having a lot of grey, dull and wet days. So, what else says summer to me? Well I am back to my favourite subjects.
Bees of course! I took this photo in the drizzly rain this evening but what struck me about it was that it reminded me of when Winnie the Pooh had his head stuck in a honey pot!
Our bumbles did really well in the late spring when there was plenty of sunshine, but numbers seem to be down now as they cope with the wetter weather. Some appear pretty hardy, particularly these large garden bumblebees. I have watched them feed on the sage outside the kitchen window even during rain showers. Now the bramble flowers are out they are feeding on them as are the white tailed bees and carder bees.
Garden bumble on sage Garden bu
Of course as well as bees, butterflies make me think of summer too.
Fritillary butterfly Speckled wood
And their caterpillars. Here the cinnabar caterpillars (which is actually a day flying moth) have eat their way to the end of the ragwort plant. So it may not be just humans that over-exploit their resources.
Inspired by this week’s Lens Artist Photo Challenge – Summer
All of these are lovely photographs – I like the analogy with Winnie the Pooh too.
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Thank you Anne.
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That is a perfect Winnie the Pooh pose! Bumble bees are so cute. Amelia
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They are🙂
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Wow MM, you must get very close to these little guys to get such perfect images. Do you ever get stung or are they non-stinging? Wonderful nature images. Hope your sun returns soon.
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Bumblebees are very placid and only sting if really annoyed, say by someone grabbing them. So glad you enjoyed the photos.
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One of the best aspects of summer is the buzz of bees in the garden. Such a happy sound!
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It certainly is Eliza.
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Cinnabar caterpillars – I wondered what they turned into – thank you.
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A beautiful brown and pink moth that will fly during the day
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So loved that first furry bum 😀😀
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It made me smile 😊
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Beautiful.
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Thank you:)
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Oh, I think any creature can over-exploit resources 😊. I was just pondering this issue myself the other day when observing how the pigeons strip the young bean plants.
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🙂
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By the way, the comment about Winnie the Pooh + photo of a bee deep in a flower made me smile.
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Glad it brought a smile to your face too- it makes me smile every time I see that picture:)
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😊
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Beautiful images, as always, MM. I love the details about the insects, too.
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Thank you Patti
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Splendid flowers and magnificent bees – how hard they work. Do the cinnabar caterpillars feed only on Ragwort and are day moths very rare?
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They will eat Groundsel too but I only ever see them on ragworth. And yes there are quite a number of day flying moths – I think in Ireland we have close to 100.
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