Hellebore season is upon us now. Often you need to lift these gorgeous flowers to fully appreciate their beauty.
Hellebores, Hellebores and more Hellebores
Tag: Bee friendly plants
Bee friendly plant
Along with male Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) and Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) butterflies, I have now seen a Peacock butterfly (Aglais io) flitting around as I garden. Yet while butterflies have been camera shy I have managed to capture bees so far his week.
Comfrey has started to flower. It is a great plant for organic gardening; used as a compost activator or to make a liquid fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Comfrey is also loved by bees, as proved by the following photos.
Photo 1; Red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) on Creeping Comfrey (Symphytum grandiflorum)
Photos 2 and 3; a Buff-tailed bumblebee
(Bombus terrestris) enjoying Common Comfrey (Symphytum orientale).
🌞Sunny weather brings many sightings
Birdsong filled the air throughout the day. The calls I could identify were of Robins, Blackbirds and a Long-tailed tit. I also heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major) drumming against a tree and a couple of Tawny owl (Strix aluco) calls in the morning. Once the sun broke through the cloud lots of insects started flying around too.
In the morning I noticed another Harlequin ladybird, this one was sheltering on a Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’. Unlike Seven spot ladybirds I only find Harlequins one at a time.
During the afternoon a female Red-tailed Bumblebee was enjoying the flowers blooming on a Berberis darwinii shrub. Pollen sacks can be seen as well as her proboscis as she collects pollen and nectar.
Lastly, I saw a Small White butterfly warming up on some ivy.
Successful photo shoot
I have finally managed to take photos today. The sun eventually shone during late afternoon and the wildlife responded.
While weeding I noticed a Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) busily flying around, visiting the Pulmonaria (Common Lungwort) flowers that were blooming.
This plant is loved by early spring foraging bees and therefore a great plant to have in the garden.
The Common Carder bee is one of the 7 most common species of Bumblebee in the UK and one of the first bees to see emerge in Spring.
I also saw my first Coccinella septempunctata (seven-spot ladybird) of the year, sitting on a geranium leaf.
In the morning I had also noticed a group of Adalia bipunctata) 2 spot ladybirds huddled together on a Stinking Hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) plant.
Bee in the Moment 