Bees on LavenderSaturday, 24th July 2004 |
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Starlings fly in and out in small groups, dividing their foraging time between back gardens and the adjacent playing fields. I drew this with a Pentel Parallel Pen.
Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk |
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I
miss the old ash tree behind Barbara's Mum's, it always made a good subject.
Today I have to settle for one of the hawthorns in the
old hedge dividing back gardens. The challenge is to make some sense of
the overall texture of the foliage. At least the stems give some structure
to the squiggles.
Two
kinds of bumblebee are visiting the lavender:
a larger, one inch long, bee with an ochre/brown thorax and an ochre/brown/white
abdomen and a smaller marmalade-coloured variety which is about half an
inch long.
The
little 'marmalades' are twice as fast as the larger bees as they visit
and check out each flowerhead. Their long proboscis is visible in flight;
it reminds me of the long bill of a hummingbird.