NATURE - Tell the Bees

A favourite tiny plant pot
from The Cliff House,  San Francisco

 

Although I grew up in California and spent my teenage years in the heady rock concert culture of San Francisco and Los Angeles, my family were not modern, well off or well educated. Our ancient English/Irish/Dutch & Native American heritage came through in quaint unexpected ways which I just accepted as a child and only began to wonder and investigate when my parents were elderly and I lived in England. My Great Grandmother lived simply, in an old wooden shack, having little nor need for it,  but apparently had come from a wealthy Irish settlement family from Missouri who disowned her when she married a farm worker who was half Native American. She had much wisdom of the old days when mankind still had the knowledge of living in harmony with Nature. My Father, although not related to her, also had Irish and Native American heritage. He knew much folklore from these two cultures. He spoke sometimes of the importance of Bees, and reminded me that you need to Tell the Bees which always fascinated me. 

A honeybee on an old teapot
I bought at The Emporium, Hungerford

The Oxford Dictionary of Myth and Folklore has this to say about it:

"In medieval, Elizabethan, and Stuart times, Bees were regarded as mysterious, intelligent, and holy; their wax was used in church candles, honey was a biblical image for God's grace and the joys of heaven, poets praised the hive as a model for the perfect society, grouped around its ‘king’ (it was only in the 1740s that English naturalists admitted the large bee was female). Something of this awe remains in a nursery riddle from the 16th century, with the answer ‘a bee’:

Little bird of Paradise,
She works her work both neat and nice;
She pleases God, she pleases man,
She does the work that no man can.
(Opie and Opie, 1951: 82-3)
 Folk tradition about bees stresses how easily they might take offence, in which case they would cease to give honey, desert their hives, or die. They had to be treated as members of the household; in particular, they must be told about deaths, births, and marriages in the family, their hives must be appropriately adorned, and they must be given their share of the festive or funereal food. They would then hum, to show they consented to remain."

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/bee#ixzz2ZgkAY4eZ




One of the Palmate Newts in the pond
like tiny Dragons!

With summer in full bloom there has not been much time to continue the quest to find, rescue and re-invent vintage items. We are too busy being in awe of nature and all it offers. The wildlife pond continues to attract new inhabitants even though it is very small. In the current heat wave it seems very welcome with the local birds, bees and beasties.



Tiny striped Spiderlings begin to disperse from their egg ball.
They will soon sail off on the wind.

This photo taken in too bright sunlight
does not do this handsome guy justice.

These pretty green flies appeared en masse. They have very bright luminous eyes and body parts and the wing tips of the males are prettily marked. They are called long-legged flies, Poecilobothrus nobilitatus. I found this out from one of my favourite blogs, called 'Bug Blog'. It is written by Africa Gomez, a biologist interested in Evolution, Behaviour and Ecology based in Hull, England. I love her insights and how she has not lost the wonder with which a child views Nature. Have a look.  

Find her Bug Blog  here:

Long legged flies need a pond to mate. Like most people we tend not to be very fond of flies, but they are brilliant pollinators and unlike common flies these guys do not bother with food, they like nectar instead. Africa starts her post about them by calling them, 'flies dancing on water' and I like that. Nature does dance - we just need to open our eyes and hearts to it and we should dance to the seasons too.

Read more about these bright green flies here on Bug Blog Bright Green Dancing Flies

The pond spider and his web lie in wait like something out of Alien.

When they came we saw that a predator followed closely behind. We do not know what this spider is called but he is pretty impressive. He made his web across the lily pad and underneath it and could stay in the water for awhile. After a few days he disappeared as mysteriously as he had come.

The dancing Tree Bumblebees

The most exciting visitors were the new Bees which took up residence under the clay roof tiles of the old bakehouse in our garden. Our Victorian cottages were built in 1870 in Arts and Crafts style by a benevolent benefactor who gave them to the estate workers. Now enclosed by fences and hedges it was once an open plan community of six who shared a 13th century church, church school, a well, outhouses and washing facilities for clothes and themselves and a bakehouse. The bakehouse and the cottages were roofed in hand made red clay tiles and I love the way the roofs have a higgedy-piggedy look.



The courtyard of Victorian cottages and their outbuildings of flint and red brick with red tiled roof

The Bees first appeared while we were building the pond but at that point we did not think about them. We have a lot of solitary Bees who we know gather leaves and mud to make their little nests in holes in walls. The Bees were very interested in the old mud we took out of the bottom of the pond. They like mud with a high nutrient content because they put this in the nest to feed the young. They were non aggressive Bees and they often buzzed around us while we worked on the pond. We kept the old mud wet for them so they could take what they wanted. After a few days they stopped coming to the pond for the mud.


A Tree Bumblee resting.
Note the bites taken out of this plant from our solitary Bees
who use it to close their nests.

We began to put the story together when we noticed new Bees one morning who exhibited a habit we had not seen before. They were in a small group and were very small themselves but looked to us like Bumblebees. They were very furry and a bright orange colour. They had a non menacing 'buzz' and sounded happy. They were also doing a little dance above the roof, which was quite delightful. We loved them at once. Remembering what my Father taught me about Telling the Bees we told them they were welcome and asked them what they were but they took no notice of us so we resorted to the trusty internet. We found that they were Tree Bumblebees. This species is European but has over the past few years begun to spread across Britain. They look very different to other Bumblebees, if you look closely.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee on our Clematis

A Tree Bumblebee on our Clematis

They usually nest in trees, hence the name, but they also like roof spaces. They are particular about where they nest though and chose the sights carefully. We can only surmise that they chose us because they liked the area, the wildflowers, Bee and Butterfly friendly plants and the perfect roof space where they get morning sun and afternoon shade. They have also nested on our next door neighbours roof and they buzz around all of our plants all day.

A Tree Bumblebee hurries off into the nest

Apparently the Tree Bumblebee commune has different kinds of Bees in it, the Queen is about the size of a normal Bumblebee, the workers who dance around her nest are doing so to protect her and to impress her in case they get a chance to mate with her when she emerges. It is believed that they are not able to sting. Inside the nest are slightly larger drone Bees who can sting, if you disturb the nest. The community does not get very large having only a hundred or two at most. Ours are very small, perhaps 40 Bees and dwindling all the time. The Bees are so active that they appear to wear themselves out and we have found several dead. By September they all die except the new Queen who will leave the nest and go to ground to hibernate. She will emerge next Spring and find a new nest, although sometimes they return to an old one. We now have another small nest on the other side of the bakehouse roof as a second Queen emerged from the nest.

They have been delightful companions in our garden and we hope that they continue to grace it with their presence.

No matter where you live, however small you can help nature and it will reward you. I am always shocked by how little some people care for nature, not realizing that we are only a very small part of it and without the other parts we would cease to exist. I am also grateful and inspired by those who remember Nature. This garden is at the back of a rented flat in a busy high street. How lovely that it is and on the day I visited the song of Birds and the sound of Bees was wonderful.

Thomson's Delicatessen and Winebar in Pewsey, Wiltshire is a delight. The building is very old and it's topsy-turvy windows and thatched roof are so charming that many tourists take photos of it. It has delicious things to eat and drink too. It lies in the High Street just in front of a roundabout on which a statue of King Alfred The Great was placed. It is a place of ancient history and great beauty. Well done to them to plant their boxes and not to forget the Bees and Butterflies.

Mrs Black is loving the weather and forgetting her house and shoppe keeping tasks. The sun is soothing on her old bones and arthritis. We hope that all of you are enjoying summer wherever that you are.

NATURE ~ Amazing Rare Things

Sometimes you find the most amazing rare things in everyday life - as long as you remember to keep your eyes open for them! 

Our House Martins who have made their nests on our cottage are beginning to fledge. This is the last nest with young ones yet to venture out. Soon they will join their parents and relatives swooping acorss the nearby fields and one day they will all join up on a roof or a wire, and then begin their long journey of many thousands of miles to Africa where they winter. This nest is just above a bedroom window and even at night you can hear them shirping and chattering. I love that sound and always look forward to the return of the Swallows, Swifts and House Martins. I will miss them and even though I am a winter person each year when they take wing a little part of me goes with them.

We were in Hungerford yesterday to visit our unit at The Emporium. We added a new shelf unit to display items. It had been dark wood and we painted it a pale blue-grey. My Great Grandmother had one which got passed down the family and finally sadly disappeared. She always called it a 'what-not' shelf. I'm not sure where that comes from but have never heard it said in England. Has anyone else heard this?

I can never resist having a look around the other dealer units at the Emporium, and rarely escape without buying something. We all joke that our homes must be full of each others things! As it is August and the days are filled with flowers in full bloom I was drawn to this Chintz, so very pretty and well displayed here. I do love the one with the Chicken.

Late summer for me is all about blooms and the last efforts of flowers and insects to enjoy what sunshine we have left. I'm with them there! No wonder I was drawn to all things floral as if to celebrate the end of summer.

We have this wonderful little hand painted pottery cat from Portugal in our unit. Mrs Black does not want to part with him as she collects cats but he really needs a good home. We also had an Owl and they looked like they might become The Owl and The Pussycat, but someone bought the Owl and now this cat is lonely. Isn't he cute?

This tiny Italian hand painted chest of drawers is beautiful and it is only £20.00. I can see many uses for it, holding precious pieces of jewelry, as a button/bead store or just to display on a table where the light would catch it. Such pretty colours and so delicate.

The vintage display I mentiioned in another post (with that super Black Cat  Lamp!) also has this Owl lamp (at £68.00) which the men amongst us must covet as it would be fabulous in a study or corner of the sitting room devoted to books and tv. It would light up a dark hall. Actually I covet it too!

In keeping with blooms and rare and amazing things we have this book by David Attenborough for £10.00. It's in perfect condition, like new. We have a selection of second hand books, some old and some never used, all at very reasonable prices. We thought this Portmeirion jug complimented it. I'd love to have someone do some murals on a wall from this book or pottery. The Passion Flower on the cover is so exquisite!  Amazing Rare Things

It was totally appropriate that we had a Butterfly adventure as we left Hungerford. There have been so few seen this summer due to all the rain and wind and as we strolled past one of our favourite shops called  Peppermint and Cream   there in the window was the most perfect Peacock Butterfly trying it's best to get out. A small crowd of Lepidopterologists (for that is what those who study Butterflys and Moths are called) had gathered and were snapping photos and calling for it's release. Fortunately the kind shop keeper took pity and moved many objects in order to get into her large window and rescue the Butterfly. Upon release it landed on my husband's shirt and we ended up walking up the street with it to try to release it into a garden. Off it flew. Such a beautiful uplifting sight.

And when we arrived home what should greet us in our garden but another Peacock sitting on our Butterfly Bush.

NATURE ~ Remember to look for the unexpected

I love the saying 'not all who wander are lost' because sometimes when wandering you can make unexpected and delightful little discoveries.

There are lots of secret gardens, entrances and alleyways in Marlborough and when the sun comes out I like to walk very quietly around there with a camera taking all the paths less travelled.

Look what I found this week as I turned down a very quiet path there.  

I know that Pigeons are often thought of as pests and indeed we do have far too many of them in towns and cities. But they thrive because of the waste of humans.

You would have to have a hard heart not to be touched by this brave mother guarding her eggs.

I love the rich blue of the doorway against the white washed bricks and you can just see the dark beams above. Mrs Pigeon chose her nest site well!

NATURE ~ More Rain, A Lone Swallow and Other Birds

We live in a valley, between two country market towns, Marlborough and Hungerford. I love them both and also enjoy the peaceful drive there and back through the rolling hills with farms tucked underneath their arms framed by old villages. It is very quiet, I don't meet many other cars but I often meet a lot of wildlife along the way. The small patches of woods and the open meadows and fields are full of Deer, Hare, Rabbits, Stoats and all kind of birds including birds of prey. While driving I scan the skies for winged things. If I go by the village ponds I meet an assortment of waterfowl as well. But my favourite birds which I always welcome back with the greatest excitement and joy are the Swallows, House Martins and Swifts.

I had to go into Marlborough today and the rain stopped just long enough on the way home to stop and photograph some of my favourite cottages and fields. I was attracted to a Kestrel, hovering by a country lane, but it spooked so no photos of him to share! I was watching the Rooks, like naughty teenagers skating on the wind over a bright field of yellow rape when out of the corner of my eye I caught the sightest glimpse of the bouncing flight of a familar graceful friend.

My heart lept with expectation - could it really be? Was it possible, even in these storms, my brave little friends have made the epic journey from South Africa? I held my breath and crept a little closer. My camera is nothing special, no big lens, so I could only hope I was near enough to be able to tell. And I am as blind as a Bat, so I had to rely on poor eyesight and an inadequate lens. YES! There it was, the deepest midnight blue, the black of the Raven's wing and best of all the blood red markings under the chin, the forked tail, and the soft white. A Swallow, all on it's own perched on a fence. Well, that is other than the Quail who was sneaking in and out of the plants underneath him. 

Swallows, House Martins and Swifts always seem to me to fly with the greatest joy, the Swifts shrieking with excitement, the Swallows and House Martins leaping into the breeze with glee, riding it ever so high and then down so low. This one, though on it's own, was chirping loudly and after allowing me a few moments of joy it was gone as quickly as it had come. Alas my camera is not swift enough to catch it on the wing but thankfully my eye was.

What they actually look like through a better lens or eye than mine!
By Molly Brett, the Fairy artist from Surrey.

This field was full of wildlife, I spotted Rabbits, Quail, Pheasants, Crows, and Rooks. And my magnificent Swallow. For a few minutes the sun shone, no rainbow but I did not care. Bliss!

I always await their arrival every year and their departure at the end of summer fills me with sorrow. Even though I am a Winter person I think that when I leave this world of which I am much fond I'd prefer to do so while the Swifts, Swallows and House Martins are on the wing in my village fields. I could not bear to think that I was leaving without having seen them one last time.

The Flight of the Swallows by JH Lorimer.

 

This is a favourite oil painting of mine. I love the quiet symbolism of it. The shadows against the warm glow of the light, all the pale and golden tones and the blue sky outside the window. I find it quite poignant and understood at once the feeling of the scene. It was set in Kellie Castle in Fife. It is showing the elegant interior of an Edwardian household. A mother kneels on a window cushion as she and her three children look out the window. The sun seems to be setting as the room and the sky are lit with a warm glow. One of the children is seen sitting with her face in her hands, as if crying over the loss of summer. The other two children stand with their mother waving goodbye to the swallows.

I hope that soon the House Martins who nest on our cottage will be back as well. It's raining again, quite hard, and I worry for all the small creatures, and the large ones too.