I was moving my seedlings into the sunshine the other day and noticed the front garden was full of flying insects. When they come out in force you know the weather is definitely on a turn for the better. BBQs and Pimms here we come! So this weeks post is a celebration of the return of the bees and butterflies. The not so creepy looking crawlies of the garden.
Thanks to a very vague search for ‘hairy flying insect uk’ I managed to identify this as a flying bee. It hovers motionless in the air before darting onto a flower. Apparently it’s a type of fly but it imitates a bees, hence the name. Their hairy bodies make them good pollinators.
An Orange-tip butterfly landed in the garden a few days ago. I tried to get a better photo but it kept flapping! Hey ho, you can still see the patterns and colour in the wings quite well.
And lastly, I wanted to show you a photo of the blackbird that keeps visiting our garden every day. It’s easy to tell it’s him because he has a marks on his face. He’s getting really tame now. You can be stood a foot away and he’ll happily carry on digging for worms.
I feel like we should give him a name, does anyone have any ideas?
I’m considering investing in a macro lens for our DSLR in a few months time, probably early next year now. The macro setting on our other camera does a good job but for the amount of detail I want to capture I think I need a dedicated lens. If you have any recommendations drop me a comment below. I don’t know where to start 🙂
I love to see so many bees around at the moment. I want to cut my huge rosemary bush back but it has flowers on it at the moment and the bees love it so it will have to wait a bit longer.
Me too 🙂 Can’t believe your rosemary bush has flowers already, ours is only just starting to grow again after the Winter. I’m the same with chives but we have two plants now so I’ll leave one and cut one.
Awwww buzzy bees! Having chased a hornet the size of a saucer* out of the house this morning I feel like I’ve just awoken to how many flying friends have come out already’
*not much of an exaggeration
Lovely shots and I too am
thinking bout investing in a macro lens so let me know how you get on!
Now to think of a name!
Thanks for joining in again bacon face x
Hornets are bloody massive! I don’t run away from many/if any bugs but if I see a hornet I’m gone! Will keep you posted on the macro lens.
ooooooooooooo Gemma, these are so beautiful and spring happy!!!!! hooray for bees and butterflies. xx
Thank you Claudia! 🙂 I didn’t realise how absent of life the garden has been until the bees, butterflies and ladybirds came back.
PECKER PECKER PECKER
those forget me nots are stunning, i wonder if they’ll grow over here. yes i do get weeds in my garden but they die very quickly, their roots are short and are pulled out the sand very easily
The forget-me-nots are pretty prolific, so I think there’s a good chance they would.
Aww your garden is just so amazing! I can see why you have so many visitors! Mine are just slugs!!!
That bird looks lovely but I am not so good on telling what it is. So lukcy of you to have him as he looks lovely! #hdygg
Haha, we have a lot of slugs too! Horrible things.
Wow what amazing pictures! I love them. I adore forget-me-nots…my neighbours have some so I can be often seen hanging over the fence admiring them (and they have amazing leeks, leading me to having leek envy, but that’s another story)! These birds can become so tame can’t they? I’ve had some blackbirds rootling around my strawberry plants, so I’ve had to cover them with nets. I did feel bad for them… Gorgeous post #HDYGG
Thanks Elizabeth. I’m surprised how tame this blackbird has become, most of the others fly away as soon as they see us. The forget-me-nots spread quickly so if you sowed some it wouldn’t be long before you had quite a big patch of them.
I think he looks like a Bertie x
Bertie is a good choice Becca!