Wasp attacks honeybee mid air, kills it and flies off with it video
Aerial wasp attack on flying honey bee I have watched many wasps killing prey, whether they were flies, caterpillars or honeybees. However they have all been caught when the prey item was stationary on a flower or other stationary platform. This was my first encounter...
Queen bumblebee awake on wet windy November day 2015 video
Queen bumblebees hibernate don't they? By rights she should be hibernating. This was a Queen Bombus terrestris however, in some areas of the country, probably due to climate change, these plucky bumblebees have been active particularly in southern areas and around...
Queen social wasp chewing shed for nesting material!
Social wasps are predators not shed demolishers! video All social wasps feed their young by chewing up soft bodied insects. I watched in amazement one day as such a wasp, decapitated then de-winged a horsefly and flew off with it! Now horseflies hurt when they...
Useful pollinator research and resources, download PDF’s
Useful pollinator research and resources Want some easy to read scientific research about insect pollinators to download for future reference? I have selected the research areas solely relating to insect pollinators and given links to downloadable PDF's, with a line...
Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland by Steven Falk
Hurray! At long last! Bees of Great Britain published!! Bees are a fascinating and indispensable group of insects, but many species are in decline, and efforts to help determine distributions and changes in abundance have to date been compromised by a serious lack of...
Woodpeckers, Great tits, mice and Red Mason, leafcutter bee cocoons.
Why did you buy your bee home? There has been a surge in the number and designs of bee houses (they are not hotels!) you can buy in garden centres. Alas many of them were designed for the wrong reasons. Some designs just don’t work, have harmful or minimal outputs for...
The Houdini fly (Cacoxenus indagator) escape artist that uses its head! (2)
The Houdini fly (Cacoexenus indagator) escape artist that uses its head! The adult flies are a little similar to fruit flies and have large bright red eyes. They are one of the main cleptoparasites of Red mason bees. They loiter around nests and nest site entrances...
Blue mason bees? (Osmia caerulescens) using observation nest box
Red and Blue Mason bees nesting in same nest box With Red mason bees and Blue Mason bees living together in the same Nurturing Nature solitary bee observation nest box, it's like Liverpool and Everton supporters living together, which is great!! Besides Red masons,...
Mate or meal? The choice a male Garden spider has to take!
Male Garden spiders, (Araneus diadematus) have a real 'life' choice to make! Well what do you do? The urge to pass your genes on could literally be the death of you! What a choice! Upon finding a female, the male cautiously and slowly approaches the female as she lays...
Garden feeding stations helping house and tree sparrows?
Sparrow numbers rise at garden feeders Research undertaken by the BTO has found that garden bird feeding is a driver involved in an evolutionary change in blackcaps. But what about other birds? I have been fortunate to have been involved in the Garden Bird Feeding...