Happy Sunday ~

Hello!
Have a nice Sunday ...

From our garden ... a couple of bees enjoying the poppies recently.

Sue xx

Following the Bees...

Hello!

I do hope this finds everyone well and happy.

I'm sorry I missed your last post Jan of Welcome to My Thoughts blog.  I loved sharing with you over the past while.  I love your art and will enjoy visiting your silent blog, so I hope you see this.

Hubby keeps saying there's been no posts from me whenever he looks ... um, so I guess I better get myself into gear and do some!

Spring has surely sprung here in our neck of the woods. 
I've been enjoying following the bees and seeing what they get up to in our yard.
I got a real surprise when looking closely at the Pittosporum trees.  After years of having them, I'd never realised what pretty flowers they have and with such a delightful perfume.  Anyway, the bees obviously knew because they were in a feeding frenzy when I snapped some pics:

 ... and then there are our lavender pots.
I've had fun potting up new plants and the bees have really enjoyed each new flower as it opens.  They get a bit possessive and try to see me off with a few close "buzzes" but I told them quite firmly... my lavender - my rules...  which means I get to take photos in exchange for them getting lavender pollen!
So far the compromise seems to be working:

It always amazes me how much hard work goes into collecting pollen.
 

A final lavender pic:

... as can be seen in the background, the chooks aren't all that impressed with me snapping photos - it's food time for them, so I down camera and off into their yard.

Thanks kindly for visiting - see you at yours!  

Throw a stick in for the bees

Hi there,  just easing back in to blogland with my first post for 2013.
I have a few hopes...
That those who have suffered through the fires are able to find the strength to pick up and carry on.
Also, that those who may be in the proximity of currently burning fires are given relief from their fears.
Last, but not least, I hope that those brave men and women (and their supportive families) who fight the fires can rest easy very soon.  My goodness, where would all we be without them.  Such heroes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We all know how precious bees are, but perhaps not everyone might know that the simple act of throwing a stick into a waterbowl can make such a difference to bees' survival.

I was horrified with myself the other day, when I noticed that one of the bowls of water I'd left out contained several dead bees.  They'd drowned, as bees easily do.  I'd forgotten to add the usual sticks or bits and pieces to the bowl.  In the extreme heat, as bad luck would have it,  they had favoured this particular bowl on the verandah as a reststop on their way back to their hive in our backyard.  

Here's a few photos I took shortly after I'd added a few sticks and corks for them to cling to.

I've popped in some cherry tree prunings and satay sticks
... I got a bit carried away - don't need that many!

This little one hung on for dear life while drinking.

Something I noticed was that a lot of bees just sucked at the wet sticks rather than
going directly to the water.

This girl had her legs on both corks while sipping.

This bee had a damaged wing and was struggling in the water, clinging to the stick.
I pulled her out, stick and all, and after a bit of drying out she was good as new.

... of course, there's always gotta be a few rebels!
They don't like sticks or corks, they're tough lassies!

So, there you go, just one stick will definitely save a few bees' lives, and the birds don't mind, they can still bathe quite happily.

Cheerio for now and thanks for your visit.  I shall enjoy popping over and catching up with everyone over the next while.

Quick... where's the tweezers!

MD came in a while ago with his hand over his eye.  Yow... a bee stinger was still attached to just under his lower lid.  Definitely needed to get some tweezer-action happening.  It was like pulling a tiny syringe out - strange sensation.  Within seconds of the stinger being removed,  the whole of his under eye area started to turn purple and swell.  A few cold compresses later the swelling is down and now he's tucked up having a snooze.
I couldn't resist the photo opportunity......

Bee stinger on tweezers

Bee stinger - at least there's plenty to grip when pulling it out

Correa Communities [warning contains images that might bite, sting or scare!]

This is a really hardy type of Correa - don't know its name, a tiny
cutting was given to me by a Lady who owned a Nursery in which we were
only browsing.  "Here, pop this in the ground - you won't regret it" she said.
I did and I don't!

MD's bees thoroughly enjoy the Correas too.
For those who haven't seen the previous Bee posts, this is

Guillelmina,  just one of the thousands of MD's 

hardworking Italian bees.
(Yes, they all have names. They work so hard and give so
much.... how could we let them remain nameless!)

Here is a link to other bee posts in this blog.

Two bags full.

I keep a respectful distance from spiders, but am continually in awe
of their beautiful creations!

the trials of Guillelmina

In Basic Training it all seemed so simple, but for the life of her
Guillelmina just couldn't remember where the
nectar came from - the branches or the flowers??

"Guillelmina, you watch me, easy as 1, 2, 3 and 4
Select a flower, Hover, Jump on, Nuzzle that nectar... ok?"
shouted the kindly Kara.

"Kara !!  I'm doing it .... thank you, grazie grazie"
shouted the excitable Guillelmina.
No stopping her now,
make way Ladies she's coming through!

you go girl! Bianca of the Blossoms

Bianca,  working the blossoms while
 she can, but the darn things
keep dropping to the ground

meanwhile, in another part of the garden are another group of busy Italian worker bees .....

Elenora, Fabiana, Gaby, Luisa and Rosa are
determined to get this month's performance bonus

how sweet it is

~ a bit of a spread featuring our bees.

We keep Italian Bees and they enjoy the nectar from

just about everything that flowers

(including weeds) in our garden

Here's busy little Bellissa working real hard on a Gallardia flower

Poor Carmelita is worried that Donella and Emilia are getting
a head start on the nectar from the Grevillea Superb!
........plenty to go around ladies.

~ harvesting the honey

My Husband fires up the smoker.
The smoke calms the bees.

First frame is out

Gently brushing away the bees

The wax capping over the honey needs to be removed

The honey is now ready for the
extraction process

The Extractor

Into the hand-cranked extractor
which takes 3 frames at a time.
What a labour-saving device this is!

The honey starts flowing.
The lumpy bits are small pieces
of wax which are removed once the honey drips through the
double wire mesh filter.

Bottling up.  I quickly learnt the right way to do it !!

Our yield of 15 kgs - Yay, honey for everyone  !!

"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think.  Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called. (A.A. Milne)