Return to moorhen home page
Return to section index
Image-of-the-Day by Subject
Insects (assorted) Page 1
Image Taken on 08 May 2013
at 16:01 Image of day on 14 Jun 2013
5 years earlier the new farm owners ripped out a hundred or so
fruit trees to turn the land 'arable'. We were offered to take
any we wanted and we replanted about 10 of which most 'took' -
something of a 'pot luck' of absent or sun-bleached labels from
'old varieties' of apple and pear. These apple blossoms are lovely.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20130614_p10_20130508_1601_497 apple blossom with fly (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 17 Apr 2011
at 13:05 Image of day on 14 May 2011
7-spot ladybirds still dominate - haven't seen a Harlequin yet
this year that we can remember. Here it is adding a little spot
of red to the beautiful apple blossom.
.jpg)
Ref: 20110514_p34_20110417_1305_346 apple blossom with ladybird(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 19 Sep 2013
at 02:17 Image of day on 22 Nov 2013
This Bank Vole has found a more modest piece of carrot to carry off
to eat in safety. The nearby oak tree is smothered in the galls
you see on the fallen leaf lower left.
.jpg)
Ref: 20131122_d5c_20130919_0217_052_fb2 bank vole nibbling carrot with cranefly behind and galled oak leaf on ground(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 13 Aug 2024
at 10:56 Image of day on 30 Sep 2024
Teasel flowering continues and the few bees have been making the most of the largess.
This is one of two similar bees on the same Teasel Flower-head, both going round the head
in circles.
 on teasel flower-head (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20240930_d72_20240813_1056_028 bee (1 of 2) on teasel flower-head (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 07 Jun 2016
at 12:06 Image of day on 19 Jul 2016
In the conservatory we saw this bee (upper left) get caught in one spiders
web, escape, but a minute later falling into a similar trap where the spider
rushes out to secure the catch. In the process the Bee manages to
remove a leg of the spider. Apparently the legs will re-grow at the next
spider moult - spiders sometimes self-amputate legs to escape and
this may well be what happened here, although in the end the spider 'won'.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20160719_df3_20160607_1206_057+1206_062+063 bee caught in spiders web attacked by spider who loses leg 1+3+4 of 4 (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image of day on 30 Mar 2005
Particularly relieved this year by the return of hundreds of honey bees
after a few years of seeing only a few at any time
.jpg)
Ref: 20050330_d12_02301 bee collecting pollen on blackthorn flowers 2005mar19_13-58-00(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 25 May 2011
at 14:09 Image of day on 24 Jun 2011
Yellow Flag Iris is designed to use bees for pollination. The sexual organs are
beneath the upper petal which presses down on the bee as it enters leaving
or picking up pollen on its back that you can see as yellow specks on the
last image. Bees always go in the 'front' pushing up the upper petal, but
exit out of the side.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20110624_db1_20110525_1409_042+047+051 bee entering yellow flag iris flower and exiting through side 03+08+12 of 13 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 18 Jun 2015
at 12:26 Image of day on 21 Aug 2015
Lilies are structured (or designed themselves, or whatever you want
to believe) so that only the right size of bee can get in (strong
enough to push up the upper petal, but small enough to fit) to
pollinate the plants. Yellow Flag Iris behaves very similarly to
this (probable) cultivar.
.jpg)
Ref: 20150821_df3_20150618_1226_001 bee feeding in white iris flower(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 03 Jun 2023
at 13:44 Image of day on 29 Jul 2023
The Oxeye Daisies are starting to flower, and along come a few insects to feast.
What appears to be a Bee is in fact a hoverfly - an Eristalis.
Oxeye daisy flowers are actually a multiple flower head - the yellow section
containing hundred of tiny flowers, while the white petals are another form of
flower, the whole assembly making a visually attractive magnet for insects.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20230729_df3_20230603_1344_015 bee feeding on oxeye daisy flower head (crop 2)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 24 May 2019
at 11:17 Image of day on 02 Jul 2019
A very attractive Bee on a cultivated Lavender flower in a large pot.
Not seen here before, and since seen on other flowers
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20190702_df5_20190524_1117_149+148 bee melecta albinfrons in lavender flower (montage 2)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 03 Mar 2007
at 10:37 Image of day on 13 Mar 2007
Relief to see a bee with all their recent woes. We have also had
a few visiting the flowers in our conservatory come greenhouse.
.jpg)
Ref: 20070313_p34_20070303_1037_532 bee on cherry blossom(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 15 Jun 2016
at 11:14 Image of day on 31 Jul 2016
A sudden eruption of self-set Orange Hawkweed (commonly called Fox-and-Cubs) has
lit up a strip near the front of the house. Here the gradually increasing number
of Bees is visiting one.
 flower(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20160731_df3_20160615_1114_024 bee on orange hawkweed (aka fox-and-cubs) flower(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 24 Jul 2024
at 10:40 Image of day on 28 Aug 2024
Teasels seem to attract any insect that uses flowers for 'fuel'.
Here we see a Bee working their way around the back of the spiky head to emerge
into view covered in Pollen - just what the Teasel needs to pass on their Genes.
.jpg)
Ref: 20240828_r70_20240724_1040_488 bee smothered in pollen while feeding on teasel flowers(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 19 Jun 2012
at 12:16 Image of day on 25 Jul 2012
The first Bee-swarm we have seen here in our 20 years here.
We shut all the windows 'just in case' - a house full of bees
didn't appeal. This is the swarm shortly after being noticed
outside the conservatory. There were clearly many thousands of
bees, but not making as much 'buzz' as we expected from
experience with small numbers.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20120725_p10_20120619_1216_657 bee swarm outside conservatory forming cluster in bush before departing 2 of 9 (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 19 Jun 2012
at 12:30 Image of day on 25 Jul 2012
Detail of the bottom of the cluster in natural light.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20120725_p10_20120619_1230_676 bee swarm outside conservatory forming cluster in bush before departing 7 of 9 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 19 Jun 2012
at 12:40 Image of day on 25 Jul 2012
Over 20 minutes the thousands of bees formed a cluster in a bush
about 10 metres from the conservatory. They were behaving so
quietly we went out for a careful look. This image is of most of
the bush using flash so you can see the cluster in the shade. You
could walk by and not notice.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20120725_p10_20120619_1240_678 bee swarm outside conservatory forming cluster in bush before departing 8 of 9 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 19 Jun 2012
at 15:47 Image of day on 25 Jul 2012
All gone 3 Hours later - we missed the departure.
If we hadn't seen the swarm in flight from the conservatory we would
almost certainly not have known anything had happened.
(r+mb id@432).jpg)
Ref: 20120725_df1_20120619_1547_130 bee swarm outside conservatory forming cluster in bush before departing 9 of 9 (crop)(r+mb id@432).jpg
Image Taken on 17 May 2023
at 12:38 Image of day on 02 Jul 2023
These two Bee-flies spent about a minute perched on concrete near the house buzzing
their wings like mad but going nowhere. Suddenly they flew off and we lost site of them.
We have to assume that this is some sort of courtship ritual, but attempts to find
more information on-line found only research papers from Australia which have an
obviously different species with the same name.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20230702_df3_20230517_1238_077 2 bee-flies stationary on concrete spend a minute vibrating wings 2 of 2 (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 23 Apr 2013
at 10:22 Image of day on 06 Jun 2013
This isn't a bee - it is a Bee-Fly. The half dark wing is characteristic.
It was a brief visit & these images 3 montaged together was all we got
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20130606_df1_20130423_1022_051+067+070 bee-fly feeding on cherry blossom (accurate montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 24 Apr 2022
at 12:11 Image of day on 29 May 2022
This Bee-fly was feeding on Green Alkanet flowers along the edge of the concrete
access track. You can see here how useful the long proboscis is on these
flowers. This is two pics of the same individual as they worked along the 10m
strip of flowers.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20220529_d72_20220424_1211_048+1212_058 bee-fly feeding on green alkanet flower 1+5 of 7 (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Comments and requests for image use
To make a comment, ask for information or to request a full
resolution image, send us an email including the reference or
the date for the image you are interested in.
All initial contacts should be made using the icon below:-
