A few more Butterflies, Bees and Other Creepy Crawlies

I sense a pattern forming here…

More Bees dying, not in copious amounts, but enough for me to wonder what's happening. They always seem to be the white tailed bumbles, I don't think I have yet seen a red tailed or other dying…

Dying on a Hollyhock leaf… its little body still lies there.

These two were 'asleep' on the Coneflower… I nudged them, but still very strange.

Happily, this one shows no sign of fatigue or dying.

Gatekeepers yet again… They must either follow me or wish to win the next series of 'America's Next Top Model'!

And as for that Meadowbrown Butterfly I promised I would catch… Well finally! It's a powerful flier, and likes to annoy the Gatekeepers.

The Crocosmia is beginning to flower and seems to be an attractive home to a number of different insects…

Shield bugs in different instar stages

And yep, more of those Gatekeepers!

To find out what the other residents are in the Crocosmia, you'll have to wait for another blog post!

Clover and Bees

If you were ever in doubt over having clover in your garden I'll give you two very important reasons:

1) Clover fixes nitrogen into your soil, feeding the grass
2) Bees love it, at any one time I have between 10-20 Bees just on the clover, ignore the rest of the plants in the garden.

Admittedly I will need to get rid of some but that can wait until later in the year. It's taking over the lawn but if it's going to feed the grass and Bees then I can live with that for another few weeks or so.

There are lots of different species, even these tiny ones that I haven't yet managed to get good shots of… As they fly, they almost look blue, it's just a silvery blue insect flying around…

There it is, in the top right corner!

Bees

With the continued warm weather the Bees have been busy on the Cosmos still… Numbers are beginning to reduce, Hoverflies are gone as are the Butterflies.

I regularly catch them sunbathing on our wall… I assume to warm up in the sun?

They must be tired by now… I will most certainly miss them over the coming months... I love seeing them around and they make all the hard work so worthwhile!

This lady, I assume is looking for somewhere to hibernate and start a new nest next year… She was enormous and I was a little worried to get too close…

The Cosmos has proven invaluable for the Bees, especially now there is little else in flower… Definitely need more Asters and Cosmos for next year :)