Redwings foraging in Reykjavik city centre and Laugavegur street, Iceland

Redwings foraging in Reykjavik city centre and Laugavegur Street, Iceland Laugavegur Street is the main shopping street in Reykjavik, full of coffee shops, touristy gift shops, wine bars, cake shops and more. It was very busy in November when I was there. It was...

Solitary Bees By Ted Benton & Nick Owens review

Solitary Bees By Ted Benton & Nick Owens review This is my second review of a book by Ted Benton. I enjoyed the much smaller first book and when I asked him why he wrote the first Solitary Bee book, his comments were just as appropriate for this second book....

Wool carder bee, nesting and mating behaviour

Ladies first! Here I will explore the Wool carder (Anthidium manicatum) (Megachilidae: Anthidiin) females' behaviour, nesting etc. and then go on to the males. Unusually for solitary bees, female wool carder bees, are smaller than males and females generally emerge...

Dolphin watching at Lagos Portugal

Dolphin watching at Lagos Portugal Several businesses offer dolphin and whale watching tours sailing from Lagos in Portugal. We decided to go with Sealife because on every trip they have a qualified marine biologist accompanying you on their boats. Instead of hugging...

The Boardwalk from Lagos to Meia Praia

The wooden Boardwalk from Lagos to Meia Praia My wife and I watched spell bound as we were fortunate to watch the actual work undertaken during the construction of this beautiful wooden boardwalk. Although we have walked many miles on boardwalks in the area, we had...
What’s inside the cuckoo spit?

What’s inside the cuckoo spit?

What's actually inside the cuckoo spit? IMPORTANT INFORMATION re Xylella fastidiosa BELOW I was always amazed as a young lad in Liverpool whenever I examined the spit I found, usually on waste ground or in Sefton Park, a few miles from home. What would spit on plants...

Go Wild Bioblitz & Nature Fun Day Wrexham

Go Wild Bioblitz & Nature Fun Day Wrexham

Go Wild Bioblitz & Nature Fun Day Sunday 9th June 2019 11-00- 15.00 Wrexham Glyndwr University Northop Campus If you live in the Wrexham or NE Wales and have an interest in nature and wildlife do come along for family fun activities, recording of plants and...

Bombus terrestris queen egg laying and cell making

Bombus terrestris queen egg laying and cell making

Bombus terrestris queen egg laying in her nest In the wild many new queen bumblebees fill their crop with nectar, mate and then hibernate over the winter months. A few may stay around to establish a nest depending upon species and location. See BWARS Winter Bumblebees...

Solitary bee nests and pests presentation at RHS Harlow Carr

Solitary bee nests and pests presentation at RHS Harlow Carr

Solitary bee nests and pests presentation, RHS Harlow Carr “George gave a great presentation to the garden team as part of their staff development, at Harlow Carr. We learnt so much about Mason and Leaf Cutter bees (who knew that there are around 270 wild bee...

Converting a boring lawn into a wildflower meadow part 2

Converting a boring lawn into a wildflower meadow part 2

Turning a boring lawn into a wildflower meadow part 2  Here is a film of a lawn which was left a short period after I persuaded the owner to leave it uncut after seeing what flowers were there but never allowed to reach their full potential. It turned out to be the...

Kilmarnock willow is great for wildlife gardens

Kilmarnock willow is great for wildlife gardens

 Kilmarnock willow, the bird's nest material provider! To save birds valuable time searching for nesting material, besides nest boxes I also provide various nesting materials for them. I came across some sheep's wool whilst walking in the countryside, attached to a...

Give membership to BTO Garden BirdWatch for Xmas

Give membership to BTO Garden BirdWatch for Xmas

Join Garden Bird Watch and get a wonderful Christmas present free!! Get a free copy of the acclaimed ‘Garden Birds and other wildlife’ book, worth £14.99, and the quarterly magazine Bird Table when you join Garden BirdWatch. Personally and in my opinion, this is one...

See Yellow-Face bee making its cellophane-like nest

See Yellow-Face bee making its cellophane-like nest

Life inside a Yellow-Face (Hylaeus communis) solitary bee nest This lovely cavity-nesting superficially wasp-like bees can very easily be overlooked as they are tiny, (4-5mm). I have had them foraging in the garden, but to my knowledge never had them nest. I did n't...

Who is living in your wild bee/bug hotel workshop? Review

Who is living in your wild bee/bug hotel workshop? Review

 Wild Bee Management Workshop for the Carbon Landscape Partnership FeedBack 3/11/18 Topics covered, included bumblebee and solitary bee nest boxes, species that use them, attracting bees, nest designs, pests, predators and their management, hygiene, other residents of...