Monday 20 February 2023

First Bumbley Bumble of 2023

 I took myself off for a walk this afternoon, on what has surely been the mildest day of the year so far with sun lighting up up the beautiful purple and white crocuses in the cemetery, of which more anon...

Always this is is my favourite time of the year, as regular readers of this blog over the years will know, and at the risk of posting repetitive content, I love to show you the nature landmarks of late winter and spring. 

I'm now getting used to seeing honeybees on the crocuses this February; they seem to have been up and about for a couple of weeks now. But I had not yet seen a bumblebee, and figured the lush crocus crop of the cemetery would be the best place to find one. 

I was frustrated at first, wondering why on earth there wouldn't be a bumble about on a day like this. I had to walk through about three quarters of the cemetery, eyes glued to the ground and being watched quizzically by a number of very chubby squirrels who seem to have wintered extremely well.

And then, lifting its fuzzy body out of a flower cup, was a big buff-tailed bumblebee queen so covered in pollen I initially thought it was a different species. I followed it as it dived into another crocus, and managed to get some photographs as it fed, almost ecstatically. 

Such a cheering sight. I hope you too are starting to see buzzy things on the wing!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 20.02.23






4 comments:

  1. I often look at birds like Avocets and Shelducks and wonder how they stay so clean while feeding. Bumble bees on the other hand seem to like to jump in and splash about a bit! Saw half a dozen Brimstone butterflies yesterday.

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  2. Si as usual your post has given me such joy. I have many golden crocus out. But purple corms are never as plentiful - I always look for them in Summer/Autumn but can never find the really big ones - I especially like those with white stripes.

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  3. Look at that bee all covered in pollen - a youngster perhaps who hasn't learned there are tidier ways to approach the job.

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  4. Always buff tailed queens are the ones I see first. I'm sure I've read bees prefer blue and purple flowers because of visual sensitivity to those wavelengths

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