Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Some Nature Pictures I Took Recently - II (Seasonal Photos)
Options
Comments
-
-
-
-
The busy presence of bumblebees has been evident again over the past fortnight on the flowering heathers in the garden. For me, they are always one of the most welcome signs of the arrival of Spring.
I watched this bumblebee emerge slowly from it's little burrow in the ground beside it the other morning. Lovely to see nature waking up again.0 -
-
Advertisement
-
-
Fantastic visitor today, a male and female Greenfinch haven't seen any for a few years
Male Chaffinch looking splendid in his breeding plumage
Taken near Dublin airport, camouflaged female Linnet (not the one seen in my garden yesterday)
Strange, I have numerous Greenfinches every day. Very funny to watch as they are aggressive little beggars and chase each other off regularly. Where are you? I am in North Kildare.
Also, thanks for the picture of female Linnett. I think I was getting these mixed up with sparrows or yellowhammers due to the streaking. Will have to get the binos out next time to see exactly what is what.0 -
-
Robbie out back earlier. I had feared the worst when i saw what looked like part of a small birds wing on the ground outside the back door a few days ago but he reappeared again the next morning so all is good. I regularly see a kestrel or a sparrowhawk flying about.
Bobby earlier in the week.
0 -
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
HoteiMarkii wrote: »Megachile willughbiella (female): Love these beautiful Leaf-cutter bees. I've seen loads in the garden in recent days. I created a solitary bee hotel about two years ago, but had never seen anything go into it in that space of time. However, just this weekend, I saw a female Megachile willughbiella bring leaf cuttings into one of the bamboo burrows. She will create a small package/wrapping from leaf cuttings in which she will lay an egg; she will also deposit pollen within the package before sealing it up. The entrance to the burrow is then sealed up using a round leaf cutting. The pollen left within the leaf package will help feed the larva that will eventually hatch. I had wondered why I was seeing so many holes in the leaves of many of my shrubs and perennials!
I posted the above in this thread back in July of 2019 (post#220), expressing my delight at seeing solitary bees using a 'bee hotel' I'd built and placed in my garden a couple of years ago. I was looking at images on my camera this morning, which I'd taken last summer, and found the following:
Almost exactly one year later (July, 2020), I'd captured the moment when some of the young Megachile willughbiella started to emerge from their burrows in the 'bee hotel'. In my original post (#220; July 2019), I'd believed the species to be Megachile centuncularis for some reason, but now believe it to be Megachile willughbiella (Willoughby's Leafcutter bee), which is a more commonly seen species here.
Later the same day, some of the young M. willughbiella were seen foraging on Oxeye Daisy flowers in my garden:
A male Megachile willughbiella, foraging on Echinacea blossom in my garden in the summer of 2018. The males are more easily distinguishable because their front tarsi are whitish and expanded (not seen in this image):
0 -
Holy Diver wrote: »Apparently most live til 5 or 6 years if they survive the first year. Longest living banded robin on record is 13 years 11 months. Mad!
Mad indeed, i think i read somewhere a while back about a Robin that lived for 19 years but I'd find that very heard to believe.
He seemed happy out today, singing all evening despite the wind and rain.
0 -
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
Advertisement