Friday 21 February 2014

Busy Bees

On the few occasions recently when the Sun has shone my heather plants have been swarming with bees. I would guess they are coming from a local smallholding where there are lots of bee hives. They were making the most of a sunny period with the temperature reaching 14˚C.

DSCN2330

DSCN2342

DSCN2333



I only saw one bumble bee. Usually it has been the opposite, lots of bumble bees and few honey bees.

They were not alone - seemingly basking in the Sun was this lone hairy caterpillar:

DSCN2334c

DSCN2328 - 2014-02-20 at 13-44-14

It appears to be the caterpillar of the Ruby Tiger Moth which feeds on heather, amongst other things. The adult can be seen here on the ukmoths site.

8 comments:

  1. This reminds me of summer. Grand shots.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. TWG: Back to cold winds today but one good day every so often gives something to look forward to.

      Delete
  3. Hi John, I saw my first bee today on flowers in the rockery, I don't really know what the flower is but it looks similar to your's, so I think it must be heather. I also saw a caterpillar in the rockery a few weeks ago, which I couldn't identify but it looked the same as the one in your photo!

    Gemma
    http://thisdaytodaylife.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gemma: I had a look back to your little pond pictures. The flowering plants there look like heather to me. Also I couldn't tell when I first saw your curled up caterpillar but it does look much the same as mine.

      Delete
  4. Yes they make some great images John. Just as long as you don't get a swarm around the garden anytime.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Roy. I hope the hives are far enough away to keep swarms at bay. Maybe some of the hives will have Summer locations in local fields.

      Delete

Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

Related Posts with Thumbnails