Richard Bell's Wild West Yorkshire nature diary
Friday,
13th April, 2007
A
DRONE-FLY crawls lugubriously on the window. Later I see it trudging across
the carpet and I coax it into a bowl and release it outside. I know that it
can’t sting me but the resemblance to a bee is enough for me to feel that
I should handle it with care.
A
large bumble-bee is visiting the flowers of our Top
Hat patio blueberries. You need more than one plant
to ensure pollination (and a bee, of course).
This is a new venture for us; we’ve bought a bag of ericaceous compost
to pot them up in. We’re not in a limestone area but, even so, I think
that our soil wouldn’t be acidic enough for them.