Monday 28 March 2016

Bees

Red-tailed Bumblebee

I saw two beautiful bees before Easter. The one above was on our patio slabs, and I feared it might have fallen from the roof or gutter. However, I put down a little water, sweetened with sugar, which it moved towards. When I looked next, the bee had vanished. I hope all was well and that it had flown off.

I'm guessing this was a rather small Buff-tailed Bumblebee

This second bee was quite small, and found moving around on Dunwich Heath near the row of coastguard cottages. There have been other bees, too, including a whirl of dark bees on the masonry walls of Hedingham Castle in Essex, about which I will write more in due course. It is lovely to find insects out and about again, but I have still to spot my first 2016 butterfly.

4 comments:

Amanda Peters said...

Lovely to see the bees, seen the odd one but weather not to Bee friendly again to day.
Not seen a butterfly either !
Amanda xx

Ragged Robin said...

So good to see your bee photos - here I have just seen a few whizzing past the kitchen window! I am still waiting for my first butterfly of the year too!

Crafty Green Poet said...

Lovely photos, specially the red tailed bumble bee!

I've seen several queen bumble bees so far this year, looking for nest sites. I've also seen one honey bee. I have seen one butterfly too, but it was at a distance and in poor light so I have no idea what species it was!

Stewart said...

Hi again Caroline I think your small 'buff tailed' is an Early Bumblebee. It has a rusty tail compared to the yellow bands?


Regards Stewart