Baby Bunnies

I know I'll regret it but its just too cute to chase off !

Bleasdale

The fells around Bleasdale looked amazing, clear and bright in the sunshine, lots of curlew, lapwings and lambs.The old blonde stems of the rushes shimmering in the breeze. Saw my first swallow of the year. Its in for a shock this weekend - back to winter for a bit.

Bee flies are back.

Beautiful bee flies are back in the garden feeding on the primulas. All we need are the swallows back now!

Nearly every Bumblebee I saw in Slaidburn on Wednesday had lots of mites clinging to them. On the Bumblebee Conservation Trusts web page they say that generally mites are harmless. The mites will probably have hibernated with the young queen and when she makes a new nest they will feed on wax, pollen, nest debris and any other small insects. At some stage they will hitch a ride on foraging worker bees who carry them to flowers where they wait to attach themselves to another visiting bumblebee and so travel to a new nest.

Heavy infestations might make flying difficult for the bee and they suggest trying to remove some with a childs paintbrush...

There is another mite Locustacarus buchneri that lays around 50 eggs in the bees respiratory system where they hatch and develop, the trust says its not known for sure if they are harmful but that must be one heck of a head cold.

Butterflies

Butterflies are back, not easy to stop in the first photo, just looks like a dead leaf when its wings are closed.

Comma

Comma

Frogs and Bees

The frogs have found the pond we made last year, one male has been sat in it croaking away and must have been successful as there are several clumps of frog spawn in it. I found an exhausted bee in the garden one evening and gave it some watered down blackcurrant jam and sugar water and after about 15 minutes of licking it up, it started to come round, had a poo and flew off ! The micro moths hatched out of a bag of owl pellets I left on a windowsill. I think they might be Skin Moths which feed off dead animals, owl pellets and the grot in birds nests.

Early Bumblebee enjoying jam NOT a Vampire Bumblebee

I think these are Skin Moths