Imogen's photos with the keyword: insect

A Honeybee on Perennial Basil plant - the pollen stored in this bee's leg sac (or pocket) is bright red in colour, which is unusual as pollen is usually white or shades of yellow. Another view can be seen in the picture within the inset.

At the Weimar Bee museum, Germany, there are various beehives devised by beekeepers since ancient times. This one is a recreation of the earliest type using a hollow tree log. In Nature bees usually create their hives in hollows in trees. Humans would have observed this and It didn't take much imagination to use tree stumps in the same way to keep bees. Easier than climbing a tree to get honey! The inset picture in the note shows the small entrance shaped out of a tree branch - this is to prevent predators getting at the bees or the honey. (The acrylic lid on the entrance is modern - no they didn't have acrylic plastic in ancient times!)

Honey Bee collecting nectar and pollen from a flower in the Weimar bee museum garden.

Bee hive boxes from the 19th Century decorated with Folk Art and quotes about the innate beauty of Nature. These boxes were used out in the field so the bees could pollinate crops. When not in use, the box hives were stored under canopy to protect the bees from inclement weather.

Beautiful Folk Art scenes painted on these antique German beehive boxes. Most of the themes are amusing like the Bear stealing honey (see inset picture in the note in right hand corner).

Early 20th Century mobile bee hives, Weimar Bee Museum, Germany. Beekeepers have a long history of supplying bees to farmers or agriculturists to pollinate crops. These colourful bee hive boxes are conveyed on this wagon and rented out for a period of a few weeks. The brightly coloured hives can easily be seen and located in a field so the beekeeper can retrieve them easily when the bees have done their pollinating job. In the present time, bees are showing signs of stress due to being overworked. Symptoms of stress on the bees include dieback of colonies, diseases, and susceptibility to Varoa mite parasite. Pesticides used on agricultural crops is also to blame for bee dieback. An alarming decline in honey bee (Apis Mellifera) populations worldwide will mean problems with crop production for human consumption. Interestingly the USA has no native honey bees so bees are imported mainly from Europe to pollinate American crops.

Native Australian Bee, Amegilla sp., or Blue Banded Bee flying to a Lavender in search of nectar. Its mouthparts are already dropped down in anticipation of finding nectar. The second picture in the insert clearly shows the blue bands on the Bee's body, hence the common name Blue Banded Bee. These native bees live individually in burrows in the ground, or between mortar in brick walls, not in hive communities. They lay eggs and hoard food stocks for the hatchlings emerging in the following Spring. Sensitive to temperature, the Amegilla bee only becomes active around end of October (mid-Spring) and are the first to disappear when it turns cold in Autumn. On cloudy cool days they do not fly or work, but stay at home in their burrow.

Blue banded bee, Amegilla, a native bee of Australia collecting nectar from a Salvia flower. The bee has learnt that it is easier to get to the pollen by punching a hole through the base of the flower rather than fighting its way up the funnel of the flower. Sadly it means the flower misses out on having its pollen dispersed by the bee.

Australian native bee, Amegilla or Blue Banded Bee flying towards Salvia Uliginosa. This true blue Salvia lures insects like a magnet, including most bees.

Covered in raindrops this fly rests on a flower waiting to dry off perhaps?

A honey bee hovering at the entry to an Azalea flower. What is interesting is one can see the outline of the right-side wing quite clearly at the same time as the high speed blur of the wing motion. Also this female bee has clearly just begun her pollen gathering as there is not a lot of pollen stored in the leg sac which can be seen as a yellow blob on her hind leg.

Assassin Fly or Robber Fly, Ommatius sp., on Perennial Basil plant. Named thus because it catches and eats other insects, flies, bees, wasps. It catches the prey in mid-air usually.