Silent Sunday – 20th March 2022
10 Replies
Tag Archives: bumblebee
Six on Saturday – Pollinators return
It is always a special moment when we see the bees and other pollinators returning to the garden in the spring. So for this week’s Six on Saturday, I am going to just share six pollinator images.
White tailed bumblebee queen on dandelion
bumblebee leaving willow catkins
Hoverfly enjoying the same willow catkins
Insect on coltsfoot
Small tortoiseshell on willow
A pollen covered hoverfly
Lens-Artists Challenge #120 – What A Treat!
Here in Ireland, we find ourselves in lockdown again. So we have to stay within 5km of our homes. So for this week’s lens artist challenge it was a case of heading back over the year’s photos and seeing what types of treats there were.
Seeing and being able to photograph wildlife is always a treat for me.
bumblebee on knapweed
White butterfly on verbena
Tortoiseshell on scabious
Male bullfinch enjoying dandelion seeds
grasshopper
Six on Saturday – 25th July 2020
So our wash-out summer continues here in the west of Ireland. I would cope with the rain if we just had a little bit more sun! But still the garden grows.
- First this week opium poppies. These poppies come up every year in the vegetable path and are loved by bees (and me too!).
Poppy with White-tailed bumblebee
2. Next, another vegetable plot flower is Calendula. These are ones my daughter set from saved seed.
Pot marigold, Calendula
3. Some broccoli ready to harvest, not the biggest heads but hopefully we will get some side shots too.
Broccoli
4. A meadow brown butterfly. The netting is not to keep these butterflies out (they lay their eggs on grasses) but their cousins, the White butterflies.
Meadow brown
5. We have had the first ripe tomatoes from the greenhouse.
Tomatoes
6. And finally this week some sweet pea. Only just coming into flower.
Sweet pea
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #105 – Spring
Spring is my favourite time of year. Everything is returning to life. Daffodils bring sunshine to the garden.
Daffodils
As do dandelions and with them come the bees, bringing back the buzz of insects.
Dandelions 
Bumblebee on dandelion
There are leaves starting to come on the trees and the birds are thinking of nesting and bringing with them songs.
Rowan leaves 
Robin in crab apple tree
The frogs return to the pond, and their chorus adds to the sounds of spring .
Common frog
And my favourite wild flowers – primroses, bringing with them their delicate scent.
Primroses
Spring brings so much to our lives and above all is hope and renewal.
Six on Saturday
As we head toward the longest day of the year things seem extra busy in the garden.
First this week the appropriately named green shield bug, here a pair mating on the red currants.
2. It is a while since I posted a photo of a bumblebee. Here a garden bumblebee enjoying the delphinium.
3. The day lily seemed to take ages to open but they are finally here.
4. It is pretty windy again today which I hope won’t affect the mange tout which are
doing nicely but not quite flowering yet.
5. Common spotted orchids in the wildflower meadow.
6. You may remember the red and yellow Aquilegia, well they have joined with the white ones. They are giving a great display of colour.
Welcome back pollinators!
Some of our wild pollinators are back. We have been seeing the odd bumblebee flying over the last few days but today was a lovely sunny day and I actually got some photos. Nothing stops the spring.
Early Bumblebee on dandelion
Buff tailed bumblebee on Willow
Drone flies on coltsfoot
Six on Saturday
We have had a couple of frosts the last two night, and there is a noticeable drop in temperatures even during the day.
- With Halloween just around the corner it was time to harvest the pumpkins and squash and do some carving. The big one took up half the wheelbarrow!
Pumpkin harvest
Pumpkin
Pumpkin
Pumpkin harvest
2. Despite the fact that most of the flowers are gone I saw a common carder bumblebee today and it was still collecting pollen, suggesting it was still feeding young – maybe it was just an optimistic bee.
Common carder
Common carder
3. In the vegetable garden we are getting a couple of romanesco maturing.
Romanesco
4. A poor frosted cosmos.
Frosted cosmos
5. I love these big leaves of the mulberry tree.
Mulberry leaf
6. So few apples this year but there are a few bramblys on a potted tree that will have to be planted out in the next couple of months.
Brambly apple
Thank you to The Propagator for hosting – six on Saturday
Magic pollinators
As it is coming to the end of pollinator season for 2019, it seemed an appropriate time to have a celebration of all the magic off pollinators and the work they do.
Peacock
Butterflies and moths are only incidental pollinators, it is the bees and hoverflies that visit the flowers for both nectar and pollen.
White tailed bumblebee
Here are some more magical pollinators.
Red admiral
Cuckcoo bumblebee
Hoverfly
Six Burnett moth
White
Green viened whites
Bumblebee
White tailed bumblebee
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Common carder bee
Taking a break
One of my favourite things to do to relax is go somewhere with with my camera, and see what wildlife I can find. Here are some of my favourites from the summer.
Pyramid Orchid – it seems to have been a good year for these beautiful orchids.
Dark-green fritillary butterful likes flower rich coastal habitats which is exactly where I spotted this beauty, near Ross in Co Mayo.
Also at the coast but this time at Cross beach in Belmullet this amazing see-through and pink jellyfish. Haven’t identified this one yet so open to suggestions.
Something else I haven’t identified yet is this (wet) hairy caterpillar!
Of course I have to add a bumblebee (white tailed) – this one feeding on ragworth, hence all the yellow pollen on it’s body.
Inspired by this week Lens-Artist Photo Challenge – taking a break
Murtagh's Meadow 