Below is a picture of an arch in his garden, surrounded by climbers with flowers.
I always find it quite tricky to get photographs of bees, mostly because they almost never stay still for more than about 3 seconds. If you are lucky enough for one to land on a flower for more than 3 seconds, I find that either a) my camera refuses to focus on the bee or b) the bee is so far inside the flower that it can barely be seen in the picture. So I had a go at taking a picture of one while it was flying. My camera still focused on the flower instead of the bee :(I'm not quite sure of the ID of the bee in the photo below.
Never mind, I suppose taking pictures of bees could be something I could work on in the summer. Anyway, moving on, also in his garden was a wasps nest, but rather where you wouldn't expect it. They had made a nest in his nestbox. It was quite a strange sight, I must admit. As you will see in the picture below, the nest bulges out of the entrance hole of the box.
Hopefully, I will post again tomorrow, providing the weather is good enough for me to go out and take any photos. Maybe even some more bee photos, who knows?!
10 comments:
What a wonderful garden that must be Joe. It is hard to get shots of moving things, and bees do move a good bit! Uh, I do believe those are hornets in your grandpa's bird house. The nest probably takes up the entire inside of the house, and if I were you, I would NOT disturb them. They are very aggressive and will defend their nest as such. I had one build in and take up the entire inside of a bluebird house one season.
I do agree with you Joe about trying to photograph bees, especially in flight and as for getting the camera to focus....aarrggh! ;) I hope your Grandpa takes care round the Wasps nest, they are fascinating but my goodness they can be crotchety. I loved the Foxglove on your previous post, I wish they would grow as well as that in my garden, I obviously need a wood! I also left a late comment on the post before that. Have a great Summer holiday Joe.
I know what you mean about photographing bees, they are even harder to get than butterflies! That wasps nest is an impressive structure - well I suppose it is a nest box but not quite what your granddad was hoping for I bet. Hope they'll play fair and not sting as the summer goes on - one good thing is that they are excellent gardeners and will clear up lots of pests.
Great photos of the bees!!! I don't see many bees. Just that one Bumblebee a while ago. It is hard to catch them in flight though. I use the fast action setting, which seems to work pretty well but still not as clear as I'd like. I don't like those little ground bees. They are dangerous...LOL And those hornets can get mean too. Yikes! Bee careful..
Hi again Joe :-)
Welcome to the world of patience, two sets of eyes and a sore back! Yes, trying to take focused bee shots is pretty tricky. The plants that I get the most bees on are low growing so I need another set of eyes to watch my legs and feet so that I don’t upset the bees!
I think your bee could be a common carder bee… we get lots of them at the moment too. It looks too pretty to be named common though ;-)
Loved the photo of your grandad’s garden… how did your wildlflowers and seedling patch go this year? Any pics?
I have to say that I am not at all surprised that wasps made a nest in your Grandad’s nestbox. I’d guess that is a lot more common than you’d think. I always watch out for any going in ours if no birds take residence after having one ourselves a few years ago… right above our back door!
Thinking about it I’d take a guess that wasps only build their nest in a completely empty nestbox. When we eventually opened our nestbox we could see the amazing workmanship of a wasp’s nest but no evidence at all of moss to suggest a bird had used it previously. Great photo from your Grandad’s nestbox :-D
Wishing you a good weekend :-D
Hi everyone,
Jayne- Thanks for the comment, glad you enjoyed this posting. Yes, bees and wasps seem to really like nestboxes. Interesting to hear of your experience where they had built a nest in your nestbox too. Even if they are aggressive, they are still amazing creatures.
Shysongbird- Thanks a lot for the comment, glad you enjoyed reading this posting. Yes, I really tried not to get too close to the nestbox. I suppose as long as you don't upset the wasps, it's possible to get used to them being there. Ah, so i'm not the only one who has trouble taking photos of bees. I honestly don't understand why it can be so difficult!
Glad you enjoyed my last post too. I will reply to that later.
Bird- Thanks very much for your comment, glad you enjoyed this posting. Yes, hopefully they will cause him no problems later in the summer. Just recently, we had wasps eating fruit that was on the bird table!
Ginnymo- Thanks for the comment. It's very sad that bees are declining at the moment, which is why I am always so glad to see them. I reckon I have seen more this year though, which is good. I suppose that's because we have planted more flowers this year.
Shirl- Thanks for the comment. Yes, it really can be hard to take photos of bees. Maybe the main problem is that the flowers contrast from the bees too much. Trying not to disturb the bees can be just as much of a problem though!
Thanks for the ID of that bee. Yes, it is a beautiful creature.
You are right, they definitely seem to prefer empty nestboxes. My grandad's nestbox was definitely empty before the wasps built a nest in it. I can imagine it would be interesting to see one being built in a camera nestbox ;)
We definitely planted more flowers this year in our garden, which is probably why we have seen more bees this year.
I don't know if this will work for you but it does for me. Go to my blog post here:
http://pickapeckofpixels.blogspot.com/search/label/Pheromones
And this shows how close I usually get when I need to. I used a standard 18-55mm lens and a magnifier glass 2x as I recall. I usually focus all my efforts on one flower and then when the camera is focused I wait for the bee. If there are lots of blooms there will be a lot of bees and one or more will land on the flower you have pre-focused on and then just snap the shutter.
Or, you can use the same camera and hold it in the general area and then begin snapping by holding the button down. You will get a lot of pictures that are no good but sometimes you will get a real prize winner.
Hi Joe - sorry it's been a while since my last visit - not quite sure where the summer is going... I quite agree on your comments re taking pictures of bees and most flying insects - often difficult to take but with a little patience and perserverance I'm sure you'll get there... some lovely photos - Miranda
Hi Abe and Miranda-
Abe- Thanks very much for your comment and for your tips on taking photos of bees, hopefully they will be useful in the future.
Miranda- Thanks very much for the comment. Yes, maybe I should try taking photos of other insects and see how I get on.
I found your blog via Professor Yaffle and love your photo of the bee in flight - clever stuff! We had wasps trying to build a nest in one of our bird boxes one year but I plugged the hole and they went elsewhere. Rather mean maybe, but our garden is small and I didn't fancy loads of wasps flying about while we were sitting or working out there.
Post a Comment