Ready For a New Resident

As at least one Great Tit is visiting the garden it was time to give the camera nestbox a bit of a clean. Last Spring a Great Tit had spent ages building a nest only for it to be taken over by a bumblebee.

Once I had removed the front sections from the box the full depth of the nest could be seen:



I managed to take it out in one piece.
Notice how the materials used start coarse and gets finer as it nears completion:



I had hoped to see some remnants of the bumblebee nest but when I parted the construction all that could be noticed was a greasy, waxy coating to the materials. That surprised me as there had been plenty of bee activity with frequent comings and goings for several weeks.

Anyway, the nestbox is empty and clean once again ready for a new occupant.

Trying to Keep Warm

A few days ago I spotted this large Bumblebee as it slowly crept across the green man by my front gate. It looked as though it was trying to find a warm place in the Autumn Sunshine.



I don't think I will see many today having had to dig out my thickest Winter coat for our early morning walkabout in temperatures which had dipped below 2C.

Hibiscus

The Hibiscus bush is at about its best at the moment, or was before last night's thunder storm soaked all the flowers. It has been a bit of a relief as it produced very few flowers last year and looked dead in the Spring.





Lots of bees visiting but so far no butterflies.





A bit of slow motion video.
As usual it may need 'forcing' to show in HD



All photos and video taken with an iPhone 6s

Going Slow

Adrian asked me what the video is like on the iPhone 6s.

Standard video can be recorded at 720p or 1080p HD
Also built in is a slow motion mode:
1080p at 120 frames per second and 720p at 240 frames per second.
Some modes are auto stabilised.

This is my first attempt at moving in close with slow motion set at 240 fps:


Soundtrack music by Christian Bjoerklund from the Free Music Archive.

Wondering whether these are the bees which took over the nestbox.
Love the one which videobombed the action in the last clip.
I can see me having great fun with this mode in the Summer.
Haven't worked out yet as to why the motion speeds up at the end of each clip.

For standard video the lens is quite wide angle, as with most mobile phones.
I've just had a quick go with that.
Also built in are time lapse video and panorama stills modes.

It Had Better Not Come My Way

Red-tailed Bumblebee

Bombus lapidarius, probably a queen, just outside the back door this morning:







Quite lethargic as it was still fairly cool outside.