Hello everyone, a little nature post for you this evening! A lot of us have noticed that the wildlife have become a little more adventurous during lockdown and we’ve noticed that a pair of Kites that usual circle the neighbouring farmland have now started to circle above our garden (along with some Buzzards!) I managed to get a video clip with my iPhone on full zoom and then extracted a “still”. The Kite was quite close and I could easily see the white markings underneath its wings.
Next up is a swarm of honey bees! We have a massive oak tree within a hedgerow and it has always been a home to a wild beehive. Each year it produces a new queen and the existing queen takes off with several thousand other bees to make a new home. The swarm hangs out in our garden for a few days before they choose their new hive location. This swarm was about 12 foot up in a sycamore tree, about 2 ft long and 1 ft wide. When out in the garden a few days ago, we heard a low frequency constant deep buzz - so camera out! I think it’s lovely that the local bee population/lifecycle is growing/continuing. I went on a bee keeping course last year to learn how to create and look after bee colonies this year, in order to help the plight of the honey bee. Covid put a stop to that! Maybe next year...Perhaps double tap and expand on the pic to get a better view of the swarm. Enjoy! 🐦🐝❣️🤗
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Horsewhisper
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What fabulous photos Horsewhisper. 👍🏻👍🏻 And that is fantastic you did a course to look after bees.👏🏻👏🏻 Hubby wanted to do that too and we did a very short 1 day introduction course together a couple of years ago. Howeveer, we had thought of downsizing (being in our mid-late 60s now) so we delayed starting up until we’d moved. Now, the way things are, I don’t think we’ll be moving after all as houses take 2 - 4 years to sell in this area. So he might set up a hive after all. Other local bee keepers are very supportive and helpful and said they’d help get us a colony when the bees swarm once we are ready. So I’ll be really interested to hear how you get on. The bees need all the help they can get. Without them our food supply will decline and finally fail altogether. Very scary.
The red kite is beautiful. 😍
Thanks for sharing your photos and your experiences Horsewhisper. Fascinating and Inspiring. 👍🏻👍🏻 Thank you. 🤗😘
Thanks for your kind words Spotty - it’s so nice that you and other people here enjoy and are supportive of the wildlife. As you say, the bees are so important to our survival. In the summer, I often see my daughter walking around in the garden with a plate of honey on a “bee revival” mission! If she sees a bee that is very still she’ll pop the plate of honey underneath it so it can have a little nibble, become energised and fly off again! I buy local honey from a family in the village who have 15 hives in their field, to support what they do in the absence of me owning some hives. They are really enthusiastic about bee keeping and have offered to help me as and when I get a colony. Anyway, I’ll buzz off now and see if I can snap the birdie that very much looks like a Siskin!! Would love to see more pics of your birdies as and when - I know how tricky they are to get!! 🍯🐝xx
Thanks svfarmer - we get loads of different wildlife as we are in a quiet spot surrounded by farmland. It’s quite interesting at the mo as we have the time to take notice combined with the boldness of the birds and other animals - just seen a bat swoop by whilst I took the dog out just now! Xx
Wonderful! Thanks so much for posting your pics. I have taken so many of the local swifts but, being very swift indeed, they aren't as close as your wonderful kite! Please keep posting - you know it boosts many on here's moods, certainly mine!! xx
Thanks D! I get a lot of pleasure watching the wildlife and pleased to hear it is a mood booster! We could all do with those from time to time. It’s lashing down with rain here at the mo and currently watching some blackbirds dancing about in the garden eagerly trying to extract some worms from the lawn! Yes the swifts are so fast - it would be amazing to grab a pic, but a tricky bird to capture. Have you tried videoing them whilst zooming in from your phone and extracting a “still”? That’s how I got the Kite, I paused the vid and took a photo of the paused image. Are the jackdaws still visiting you and behaving themselves?! We had a visit from a Jay the other day which was nice.
We are still chugging away on the H2O from our 2 litre flagons and still reaping the benefits, trying to keep as healthy as poss with all the meds, it certainly makes a difference on feeling well when properly hydrated on the metho! Hope you are feeling ok and I’ll post some more soon 🦅🤗😘
Great photos hw , of both kite and bees 🙌🏻 I adore bees, I have a couple tattooed on me 😂😂 and have many in our garden and this year for first time in 5 years they are using the bee house we put up 👍 the lavender we have in abundance will soon be in full bloom and we will have many smothering it which we love to see, my son and I watch them for ages busting themselves. There luckily seems to be many around this year, long may it continue👍🙏 thanks for posting 👍 fantastic 👍🤗🐝x
Hi stiff! Glad you liked the pics - and great to hear that you are a bee fancier! Like the idea of the tattoos! I’m fascinated by the bees and how they work as one “system”. There’s a lot we humans could learn from them, for sure. Aaah lavender...they go mad for it don’t they? Have you tried lavender honey? It is amazing. Yes I too have noticed more bees around this year - perhaps something to do with less pollution in the air due to lockdown and maybe less disturbance by us humans in their habitats? I chuck some wild flower seeds around the rough edges of the garden to help the bees. Have a good day and hope all good with you 🍯🐝🌟🤗😘
Yes I think bees are amazing and enjoy watching the hard workers collecting their pollen 😍 we would be lost without them, I love the kids film bee too 😂 Have no regrets of tattoos when younger, most of which you’d never know I had when clothed 😂 I have bees, lions, koi, cat,newt, frog , zebra bees and my ultimate animal gorilla , would have had more if could have😂 all very tasteful and when I’ve had ops they love looking over them 😂
I haven’t tried lavender honey but sounds great, I did try lavender biscuits on a lavender farm in jersey , what a place that was 👍I use a manuka Honeytoothpaste, lip balm and moisturiser . I bought the dog some manuka honey high strength when his allergies kicked in and my OH complained how come he got Hartleys jam for £1 and the dog gets manuka 😂😂😂
Lavender is awesome too, I use a lot and dry lavender from the garden and put in pouches in pillow and sprinkle some on carpets before hoovering , makes house smell lovely and the Hoover. The chooks alerted me to bees nest 🤷♀️ In garden under lots of dry leaves and bark on ground, many in there 👍 and find it great how chooks know to stay away from bees 👍
Love that you use the wild flower seeds too 👍 look forward to more pics hope you’re having a good weekend too 👍
Do you use lavender to cook/ bake with as you’re so good at it? 🤗🐝😘🐝🐓
Oh stiff! You’ve given me a great idea - lavender ice cream! I’m going to try that and bake up some lemon shortbread biscuits for it to go with, what a combo! Sadly hubby isn’t keen on lavender, so we don’t grow it and I haven’t baked with it but I’ll do a cheeky taste test with the ice cream and surprise him! We had stacks of the stuff in the garden when I was a kid as my dad was a prolific gardener and was an avid bee champion and I remember just sitting for ages watching the bees drop into the lavender and do their stuff. I use manuka honey (medical grade tube of the stuff) for first aid - it is the quickest healing product I have ever come across. It is amazing. I originally bought it to help heal a tricky wound on my horse’s knee, that kept opening up, manuka honey helped to close it within a few days and no scarring either. So we use it too and it’s my “go to” product every time! Yes I use honey based products for skin & lips too! The family do say that my horses first aid kit is way better stocked that the human one 😂 well of course it is!
Your tattoos sound fab! What a lovely collection of animals to keep you company and all the time! They must brighten the medics’ day and help you feel distracted when having an op!
It’s raining here this morning so the wildlife is still tucked up in bed - but hot dry weather this week, so will see what nature pics I can snap and post for all the animal living peeps on here. Have a good day with your chooks - I can imagine them keeping you briefed on the impending dangers in your garden - they have such great personalities! We had a bantam cockerel called “Butterballs” who used to strut into the kitchen at tea time and nag my mum to come and feed the hens, he was so funny (and then us kids would encourage him up onto the table and feed him whatever we are eating, of course!) it was a bit crazy as you can imagine, I tried to get my pony into the sitting room to watch TV with me, mum put her foot down at that! 🐴 📺😂. Righto, that’s enough tripping down memory lane, have a lovely day! 🤗😘👋🍯🐝
No way 😂 that lavender ice cream sounds good, if you make it please let me know what it’s like 👍
The medical grade worked fantastic on my dog too, he had a sore on his side and it cleared it up within three days and like you said never left a mark 🙌🏻
Love the name butterballs 😂😂 and sounds a great character 👍 our chooks bring much relaxation and laughter , my daughter said it’s the best idea you’ve ever had mum to get chickens, needless to say she loved them. She becomes a teenager this week so typically lazy 😂😂 but not where chooks concerned 👍😂
She also keeps on saying can I bring them indoors....... nooo 😂
She did introduce Tsuki to our parrot and hilariously the parrot gave a friendly hello 😂
That’s not unreasonable to bring your pony to watch tv 😂😂😂😂
My friend had a black cab and used to put her Shetland in the back of that 😂 can’t see it happening nowadays 🙈😂
Lovely hearing your trip down memory lane 🙌🏻 Thankyou for that 👍
We’ve had a Fox in the garden tonight! A long time Since we’ve had one. Hubby says, they are quite common in urban areas and turn the bins over..., not to be recommended at our House... may come across one too many ‘beverage’ bottles!!! 😂
Lovely to see though and then the hoggy’s a little later. X
Aahhhh the red kite...fantastic birds known as England's eagle!! I'm very lucky to be in a place where they reintroduced them n now I see them flying over my garden often..I'm lucky to live next door to a school field too so they really do come in very close!! I absolutely ❣️them..so majestic..wonderful markings...❣️ Thank u for sharing 🌈😽😽xx
Thanks KK - yes they are quite majestic in flight - I love the way they circle effortlessly on the thermals whilst looking out for their next meal! Great that you have the open space nearby for you to see them - do you think they have become a bit bolder since lockdown?? I do wonder.....Hope you are keeping well and I’ll see what other pics I can post in the next few days! 🤗😘❣️
They r pretty bold birds anyway..by nature!! The reason that they became so rare was because they were so successful in this country that they actually became a pest..so they were hunted into near extinction!!
I heard a story on the radio couple of years back that a red kite had landed on a little girls head at a picnic n it stole her cupcake!! I was flabbergasted coz I only thought they ate roadkill n stuff that's already dead..but definitely in this area they'll eat bread..n we also heard a story among dog walkers that a kite took their puppy when they were walking it but that could just be myth!!
So in answer to your question they're probably no bolder in lockdown than they r anyway..by nature 🌈😽😽xx
And another little snippet of info about the kites is that u can call them in...do u remember as kid putting a blade of grass between your thumbs lengthways n then putting them together n blowing through the thumbs? That noise will get u communicating with a red kite!! Might be one for the kids..just watch your cupcakes n puppies!! 🌈😽😽Xx
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