New paintings and regular art updates.
If all the bees were gone
There’d be no flowers
So no fruit, no vegetables
No more blossom.
We could still have wind blown pollen
So grain would be possible?
Maybe….
Not much choice
Porridge or bread?
Let’s save our bees
And pollinating insects
We need them.
#bandofsketchers prompt was fly. I had to ask for a pallette on Saturday at the Orme Art Group because I’d forgotten mine. I splodge some paint on it, but had some left at the end of the day. I doodled wings and legs on it because the splodges looked like insects.. So I’m calling this “flies”!
I think I’ve seen two cabbage white butterflies this year, no red admirals, no peacock butterflies, no commas, no fritillaries.
What’s done this? Could it be the weather, we had cold wet spring. Could it be insecticides? There are more being used that are affecting bees. Nicotinoids are banned in some countries, but have been allowed here I think. It’s a real worry, without insect pollenators we run the risk of not having food crops pollenated.
We really need to get our act together, now!
Last year we got some blossom on our apple tree but very few fruit. This year despite cold wet and windy weather the tree is absolutely covered in blossom.
The tree is bent over and trained against our fence so our neighbours actually have more of the tree in their garden. I’m hoping the blossom gets pollenated but again I’ve seen very few insects because of the weather. Fingers are definitely crossed on this.
The garden is starting to bloom. The pear trees were in blossom a few days ago, and the cherry tree has come into flower over the last couple of days. Over in the hedge a plum tree is blossoming too.
The only trouble is it’s windy and as yet I haven’t seen any bees or insects about. I hope they get to the nectar before the petals blow away. If I’m going to get any fruit this year the trees need pollinating. Fingers crossed for the crop.
A butterfly sunbathes on top of the fence. I couldn’t get a decent photo because it was too far away. It looks more like a speckled leaf. The edge looks like a wrinkled and twisted old dry oak leaf. There are plenty of flowers lower down on the fence for it to collect nectar as it sips from them.
I imagine it was trying to warm up as we have had lots of cold and damp days recently.
Talking about insects there was a Huge bumblebee in the bathroom yesterday. I tried to get it out, I couldn’t reach up to the window so opened the bathroom door and in the end opened the back door as well and it just flew out into the sunshine. It was good to see two different pollenating insects in the garden on the same day.
Some flowers are very complex and can also be bred with double the petals, they look very pretty. But bees and pollenating insects can’t get at their nectar and pollen. A massive bloom could make it difficult for bees to feed and collect food for their grubs.
So try and choose bee friendly plants, they often are labelled to help you chose them. And look for simple flowers like this where the central flower parts, anthers, stamens etc are easily accessible by the insects you want to attract.
You can also build bee hotels for solitary bees from grasses and sticks and small lengths of hollow bamboo. If you look you can find designs on line to work to. Have fun and support your local bees! I was speaking to a beekeeper today. He said one honeybee only makes about a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime!
Soon there should be butterflies and moths flying round the buddlea bushes in the garden. But they, and other insects, have plummeted in numbers over the last few decades. Whether this is due to changes in climate, where their food stuffs emerge earlier than they used to and are not available to them. Or because their food plants are removed or not replaced. Or because insecticides like nicotinamides are being used when they are linked with insect deaths? Why don’t we see sense and try and limit increases in Carbon dioxide? Reduce insecticide use and stop being so destructive.
The bible says man shall have dominion over the animals and plants of the world. I wish that read responsibility for their care? We are the guardians of the Earth. We outnumber everything else and our behaviour is appalling in so many things. We should learn to support the Earth more.
Hundreds of flowers. Some fruit, tomatoes, ground to fence. We go mad every year, but this year has been spectacular. We have, I must admit, been using the hose, but will have to use a watering can if they bring in the ban. The heat today was difficult to cope with. When you have humidity caused by the water it seems even hotter. The blueberries are suddenly ripening and we have had a windfall apple. Hopefully the tomatoes will ripen soon. Its crammed with plants and is my happy place in summer.
Tonight we had a visitor flying fast and silently above the yard. It was a bat catching moths and insects. I think the flowers attract them and the bat’s come to feed.
Beauty in a bloom,
Hidden shapes
Finding nectar
Bee time
Hover flies
Burnished ladybirds
Crawling, flying, scuttling.
Flowers feed them
They feed us.
Save the insects
Saving flowers
Saving us!
Mallaband-Brown