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Orchard Bees
Mar. 19th, 2026 04:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bookscorpionThis morning I went to check out the big insect hotel near the canal and I was just in time to catch a whole bunch of male European orchard bees who I am fairly sure had just hatched (the females will hatch a little later in the year).
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Knock Out Honey Bees
Jun. 15th, 2025 11:57 amblackcatofmiseryMy mom's garden has a vigorous knock out rosebush just beside it, and various bees adore it. Although I'm severely allergic to bites and stings, I will still follow honey and bumble bees; they're too busy to care about me.
Fun fact about me: I cannot smell typical roses. Knockouts are the only roses I can smell.
( Photos beneath the cut. )
Fun fact about me: I cannot smell typical roses. Knockouts are the only roses I can smell.
( Photos beneath the cut. )
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Poem: "The Flying Jewels of Spring"
May. 14th, 2024 11:51 pmysabetwordsmithI wrote this about today's cicada hatch. It fills the "chase" square in my 5-1-24 card for the Superhero Bingo Fest. It has been sponsored by Anthony Barrette.
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Photos: Cicadas
May. 14th, 2024 11:36 pmysabetwordsmithCicadas are hatching! I've seen a few hatch earlier, but this morning after the rain there are lots of them. The biggest concentration is around the forest garden and edges of the patio. :D These are red-eyed cicadas, technically periodical cicadas. Their carapaces are almost hard, their wings fully extended but still too soft to fly. It's a feast for everything that eats insects. Humans can eat them too. (I'm not planning to try that.) Usually what we get here are various types of the larger green cicadas, like the dog-day cicadas.
For maximum birdwatching benefits, keep an eye out on mornings after a rain. Once the nymphs shed their shells, they are soft and vulnerable. Many birds eagerly feast on them.
See also the poem "The Flying Jewels of Spring."
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For maximum birdwatching benefits, keep an eye out on mornings after a rain. Once the nymphs shed their shells, they are soft and vulnerable. Many birds eagerly feast on them.
See also the poem "The Flying Jewels of Spring."
( Read more... )
An American lady
May. 12th, 2024 11:37 amblackcatofmiseryI love spring, because garden centers open, and that means pollinators. I saw a butterfly going about in a greenhouse and finally tracked it down—taking a picture every couple of seconds, so I looked like a creep, I'm sure—on a hanging planter. I believe it's an American lady (Vanessa virginiensis), judging by the two eyespots and bit of pink.
( Photos beneath the cut. )
( Photos beneath the cut. )
A Katydid, aka Bush-cricket
Sep. 24th, 2023 09:51 amblackcatofmisery
My brother was cleaning cars last night and came in the show me something. I immediately assumed a weird big, and I was right!
At first, I didn't see it, but a big ol' green big, about 7cm, was clinging to the center console of our mom's car. My big brother wanted me to remove it. No idea what he'd've done himself, but I got her out, and she didn't want to leave my arm. 💀
I'm glad to know we have these critters, though, because it could maybe explain some noises I've heard outside. I didn't expect her to be so big, though! I'm relatively okay with six legs and less, but the size of this bug had the hairs on my arm standing up. (She also wanted to play parrot on my shoulder. I'm not yet so willing.)
But my brother and I agree that he'll take care of spiders and stingy, stripey things; I'll catch other six-legs-and-less ones.
Fun fact: Katydids are believed to being good fortune! (Not necessarily financial.)
blackcatofmiseryI left the house today. One of my stops was a store with nicer plants than most garden stores I've been to, and there were dozens of various bees. (I wish I'd gotten a photo of the honey bees on the same onion.)
blackcatofmiseryAlthough I am very allergic to bug bites, I will follow neat bugs to try and get decent photos on my phone. Right now, the oregano is in bloom, attracting lots of pollinators (and unsavory types such as hornets and wasps).
nanila
We had a gorgeous and very obliging visitor in the house about a week ago. It took kindly to being gently shepherded back outside.
May bug in July
Jul. 16th, 2020 11:40 amnanila
We were very surprised to find this May bug (otherwise known as a “cockchafer” although not without a lot of sniggering) on a walk through a field in Norfolk. Not just because it’s quite a big beetle, but because it’s mid-July!
Dragonflies
Sep. 4th, 2019 09:08 pmnanila
I was more than a little chuffed to be able to capture this shot of dragonflies in mid-air. Taken from a canal barge in Ohio, USA, in late July.
Mating ladybirds (with woodworm beetle)
May. 6th, 2019 08:26 pmnanila
It struck me that the small grey woodworm beetle in the above photo was being a bit insensitive, walking casually over this pair of mating seven-spot ladybirds. Then again, at least it wasn't shoving a macro lens at them like the big rude human was!
Banded demoiselle
Aug. 16th, 2017 01:39 pmnanila
Banded demoiselle perched on the roof of the woodshed. The toddler was delighted.
We get these damselflies as well as dragonflies flitting through our canal-side garden every year, but they don’t often stop and say hello.
Comma butterfly
Jul. 4th, 2017 04:32 pmnanila
[Macro images of a comma butterfly from the side, wings partially open, with its brilliant orange and black colour scheme & scalloped edges in view.]
I was getting a bit worried that the oregano and lavendar were in bloom and I had yet to see many butterflies in our Worcestershire garden. Today, though, I saw three cabbage whites, a very tattered small tortoiseshell, two skippers and two speckled woods. This was a tremendous relief. I also disturbed quite a number of white plume moths whilst clearing out weeds. They all flitted into the hedgerow, which I left untouched, so I'm hopeful they weren't too put out.
