- I drove over to East Sussex today for a meeting, about 60 miles, and there were 6 animal corpses on the roads, 4 badgers and 2 foxes. That's more than I would expect. Were the badgers searching for food away from their usual haunts? And if you multiply up, that's quite a large cumulative death toll.

- More cheerfully, on the insect front, enough honey  bees on the campanula (lactiflora? - the low-growing one) to attract attention by the amount of buzzing, and aphids a-plenty on the lunaria.

We had that badger back in the garden last night. 🦡

If it's insects you want, come to my garden - I've come in from a half hour's tidying up (mainly brambles and stickyweed) and saw plenty of insects, including (rather puzzlingly) several bumble bees in the large hazel tree. No idea what they were doing with it, but they seemed obsessed: I saw at least four at a time crawling over the leaves, and by the buzzing sound overhead and behind me there were more in the tree.

There were also plenty of other insects flying around, I disturbed clouds of them as I pushed through the longer grass... and ended up with "spit" on my trousers, which I think is from a froghopper.

This is still relatively early in the day, I expect the hoverflies and more will appear later on.

The first clovers are now opening on the lawn (which seems to have acquired buttercups from somewhere too), and the fuchsia is now well in bloom. No bees on them, though, which is unusual. I still don't know why the bumble bees (with brilliant white tails) were so fascinated with the hazel leaves though!

They always seem exotic to me, but that's because there are no badgers on the island where I live. That said, there were no foxes up until the 1950s (any previous ones having been killed), but when the new bridge was opened in 1959 some trotted along the pavement and onto the island. There are now (apparently) quite a few around, but they're seldom seen out in the open... they're definitely not urban foxes!

I can't imagine it'd be as easy for badgers to make the trek.

Even as you approach you can hear the buzzing, and it's now positively swarming with bumble bees! There must be a nest nearby, although I still can't figure out why they're so obsessed with the hazel leaves. Upon closer inspection there seems to be a white powder (?) on the leaves, maybe that's what they're after.

A few of them have now found the fuchsia bush, and it looks like the box hedge is about to come out in bloom, they're sniffing around that too.

That's the second time in three years that I've had a bumblebee nest, the last one was under the shed (and wasn't anywhere near as populous as this one must be - the buzzing has to be heard to be believed!)

EDIT: Perhaps it's just honeydew they're after? Looking for photos of leaves with honeydew shows a similar "powder" look!

https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bee-faqs/bumblebees-and-aphids-2/ 

https://ukwct.org.uk/weather/bee1.jpg 

https://ukwct.org.uk/weather/bee2.jpg 

https://ukwct.org.uk/weather/bee3.jpg 

They had some twat from the C*ntryside Alliance on, who just denied everything and tried to cast doubt on the RSPB study.

Such rules do not apply to the entitled, Saint. "Serfs you are and serfs you will remain."

https://www.historyhit.com/why-was-the-peasants-revolt-so-significant/ 

Shark that ate swimmer alive to go on display at Egyptian museum

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/shark-ate-russian-swimmer-alive-140006196.html 

Says the lady who wasn't able to tell the difference between a bee and a wasp when they appeared in her house.

“Wasps!” I wailed to my analyst husband, Chris, who like me is 44. I frantically vacuumed them up and deposited them outside as fast as they arrived...

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/foodanddrink/other/honey-bees-aren-t-an-endangered-species-they-re-causing-chaos/ar-AA1cDtXd?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=9b4cbe8e1e014f1594c07efc93bff06f&ei=34 

Make of this story what you will. Some fragments of truth but the overall picture is honeybees are not endangered anymore.

Nick

Not sure what to make of the story apart from the fact that the shark ate a Russian. A cunning Ukrainian ploy?

I posted a comment on the real version of the story, which interestingly has only a quarter of the comments that the freebie version has!

It's an interesting point wrt honey bees. I rarely see them in my garden, as has ever been the case, with bumble bees being at least an order of magnitude more common (or two orders at the moment with the nest I have). There are several commercial hives a few hundred metres away, but I guess those bees don't wander far.

The snag is it's hard to tell a farmed bee from a wild one...

Honeybees are as "native" as any feral species can be. They have been in the UK for a long time. Remember that pretty much everything in the UK is an immigrant! I have a photo on my website of a Roman mosaic with Cupid robbing a "Skep" hive. Honeybees will happily live wild in the UK and trouble no one. We've had a feral colony in a redundant chimney - no issues.

The concern is many indigenous bee species are having a difficult time, mainly due to a steady loss of habitat and native flora. If they have to compete with the "superorganism" of a honeybee colony they may find the going gets tough. This is especially true when large numbers of bees are pollinating monocultures of a farm crop, such as oil seed rape, at the expense of their natural setting. Overpopulation of any species is also a danger as far as epidemic disease is concerned - bees or humans. As far as people are concerned, being near an apiary can be a recipe for trouble when hive jobs are being carried out. Responsible beekeepers won't put people at risk. If anyone wants to know more PM me and I'll give you a link to my bee webpage.

p.s. Honeybees will fly quite a distance to forage - 5 miles is often quoted. I used to be the LBKA county spray liaison officer, keeping records of all the hives in Lincolnshire so farmers knew where they were and could liaise with beekeepers to avoid spray accidents. I worked out there was not one Km square in the county honeybees could not reach!!!!!

As soon as I saw this edition of what was (I think?) a widely syndicated piece aimed at different audiences, I though 'light the touch paper and run' Roger.

Are Swifts and other Hirundines really native? And of course when will bee eaters become native? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-65910074  

Anyway here's another story more local to me you might find interesting for Sunday morning.

https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/23588628.plans-advance-new-honey-bee-centre-north-dorset/ 

As far as Hirudines and Swifts are concerned an obvious question is: Where is a migratory animal "native"? Where they breed? Or where they spend most of their time? Given that the environmental/ecological change produces changes in habitat, we can expect to see species' boundaries change. The tragic conflicts surrounding human migration and boundaries are a stark example of this biological process in action.

WRT Beekeeping "Centres" - I have a personal aversion to an overplayed centre-based interpretation of something that is best delivered in a practical way by a knowledgeable person. I know the zeitgeist is for real and virtual snappy interpretation, but as Robert Henlein's saying goes: "A university is a log with a student sitting at one end and the teacher at the other." Honey farms and centres are great - but only as the Icing on the Cake!

(Back in the 80s and 90s at least half the houses in my road had ponds in their back gardens. Now there are only two of us left with them, and the chap over the road has fancy fish in his. Mine's nowhere near that elegant, indeed some would call it an overgrown mess, but I've seen dragonflies for the past four years - so they at least like it!)

https://twitter.com/i/status/1671431971258486785 

Mammal and dinosaur found ‘locked in mortal combat’ from 125m years ago

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/mammal-dinosaur-found-locked-mortal-150000384.html 

which of course leads on to this. Living on top of a time bomb is not my idea of bliss. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210730-the-enigma-of-europes-largest-active-volcano 

Someone suggested that New Zealand would make a good bolt hole if the ball goes up. I'm not so sure.

Nick

After some research it appears that they do breed in Devon and Cornwall and have done for 100 years after they were introduced by mistake from New Zealand.

No fritillaries though, which are often dominant in the Longleat CP.

I wonder if it's natural regional variability or a favourable year for admirals. 

Numerous Red Admirals around here too in this part of Dorset. A good year for them it seems.

Nick

I'm sure you know not to eat anything you are not sure about. [...as the actress said the the bishop!]

Let the fungus season begin.

https://www.wildfooduk.com/mushroom-guide/suede-bolete-2/