The last time I saw a really good one was in Bethel, Gogledd Cymru, and my small dogs were going demented!! We get more scattered exits from lochs, here, but definite little lines forming!! From our small pond, if lucky with timing, we could, I stress could, have a Bethel-style motorway queue!!
Saw a bullfinch briefly this morning, I think it stopped for a quick snack en-route to someplace else!!
Diolch mil mil for all your help. I’ll look for the software lurking!!
p.s. Love your lily! I cheated with our little pond and planted a non-indigenous dwarf one. There are wild ones locally, but that kind would be too big for the pond!! (Ours isn’t out yet.)
Well, i’m known for saying every day is different, but some are just a bit more different or should i say today was unusual, you see it’s not every day i come across a swarm of wild bees.
Haid o wenyn - swarm of bees.
Pwy sydd yn gallu gweld y frenhines - who is able to see the queen.
It was a bit tricky moving a couple of bendy branches aside with left arm so i could get close with the camera, but no sudden movements and the bees don’t feel threatened, to be honest they just ignore me.
Cheers J.P.
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Llun gwych, John. Yn anfoddus, fedra i ddim gweld y frenhines.
Hopefully, someone more eagle-eyed will do though.
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Don’t worry Mike, i couldn’t be sure either.
Some more images from yesterday, the weather suddenly improved and spring certainly sprung into life.
Mursen las gyffredin - common blue damselfly.
Brych y gro - alder fly.
Mursen gawr goch - large red damselfly.
Mursen gynffon las - blue tailed damselfly.
Mantell paun lindys - peacock caterpillars (they live communually like this probably for safety from birds, get close and they start waving around like a larger organism, trouble is this makes them easy prey for parasitic wasps).
Picwnen goch - Hornet.
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From yesterday when the sun was shinning.
Dau mursennod fawr goch - two large red damselflies assembled for egg laying.
Ffacbys - common vetch.
Llysiau’r cryman - scarlet pimpernel.
And from today when it is raining.
Dail o Danadl poethion - stinging nettle leaf infected with the rust fungus Puccinia urtiata - nettle cluster cup.
Dail o Erwain - Meadowsweet leaf infected with the rust fungus Triplragmium ulmariae - meadowsweet rust gall.
(italics for Latin names).
For those who look it can be surprising how many plants suffer from such rust fungi, each of which seem surprisingly species specific.
Bydd 'na egwl fer, tra dw i’n mynd crwydro .
Cheers J.P.
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The queen is usually in the centre of the swarm so is impossible to see. If you take the swarm and let them run up a board/cloth into the new hive you might see her as she walks in with other bees. Otherwise you would need to wait until hived and then look for her on the frames.
A swarm is usually quiet and it is very unusual to see major activity and get stung unless you disturb them roughly.
If you come across a swarm it is worth mentioning it as soon as possible to the local beekeepers association. Then hopefully one of them will catch it and hive it. Honey bees are very important pollinators and like many insects have declined in numbers so need all the protection they can get.
It has been estimated that where pollination is important for fruit and vegetable production, 75% of this is done by honey bees.
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All excellent comments and i thank you very much for your input (the who can see the queen was tongue in cheek).
As you say contacting local bee keepers would have been a good idea, my failing here as i’m not in contact with them (something to be addressed next time i meet the local wildlife warden).
Cheers J.P.
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Could you try looking on-line? It may be a silly suggestion, as you may have done that, but it did occur to me there might be a site for them to exchange tips and a message telling where the swarm was might work. But too late now, obviously, as, presumably they have long gone!! A friend who kept bees seemed to spend a lot of time chasing swarms or rescuing people from them!!!
(Referring to a snail picture way back up the thread somewhere 
)
Aha! I saw one of those in my garden today. It fascinated me that it didn’t seem to be carrying its shell properly, it was lopsided, but the one in the photo is the same. Do they all do that? How weird!
Buitre Leonada, Fwltur Frech, (?) Griffon Vulture, Gyps fulvus
Where were JP and his cameras when I needed them? 
I took two of these photos in the Cameros in La Rioja mountains last week. I was walking in the dramatic canyon of Rio Leza. The vultures were a dramatic and ever-present backdrop. I felt a bit like a corpse in a cowboy movie as they circled overhead. In fact, though, the scene and the birds were really stunning.
- This is what I managed to snap
- This is where I was walking
- One of the beasts swooped within 2 metres of me and this is the shot that JP would have got if he’d been there:smile:
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Hi folks, been away hiking so have not been around to answer posts, ah the chance to photograph a vulture in the wild (no i’m not jealous).
Didn’t get much in the way of useful photographs with old pocket camera last week other than this
Mantell dramor - Painted lady (these fly in from Africa every year if we are lucky).
Cheers J.P.
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Perfectly good suggestion.
Ah, that made me think Dee, so today i managed to get photo of two which also shows nicely the colour variation.
I watched them for a short time and it seems they extend their body forward and then drag the shell up to their middle them repeat the process, so i suppose it depends on where in the cycle they are as to how tilted the shell looks. (thanks for the close interest).
Picellwr bodiog (gwrywaidd) - Broad bodied chaser (male). click image for full size.
I failed to get image of the female, though watched one egg laying for a while.
Cheers J.P.
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Stunning photos as usual JP! The detail on that Picellwr bodiog is amazing.
Thanks Dee, that was a lucky one when everything came right.
This butterfly just refuses to yield a clean image.
Gwibiwr Brith - Grizzled skipper.
Tarianbryf Gwyrdd - Green shield bug. (busy egg laying on dock leaf).
On May 6th i posted a tiny fungus just starting to form, what a change in three weeks.
My shoe in the bottom left corner gives some idea of size, and this is only a small selection of what is on the dead cherry tree.
Underside of one small bracket showing the difference in colour.
This is chicken of the woods - Laetiporus sulphureus. i have no welsh name for this stunning looking fungus.
Cheers J.P.
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I wouldn’t fancy trying it myself, John, but I seem to recall hearing that this one is edible. Is that true?
Yes, if you find one of these and tear a piece of you will see it looks like cooked chicken, but i haven’t tried it.
Alabonia geoffrella.
I had quite a task finding an identity of this micro moth, only has a Latin name.
Gwibiwr Llwyd - Dingy skipper.
Mursen fawr dywyll (gwrywaidd) - Beautiful demoiselle (male).
Cheers J.P.
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What a difference a day makes, this morning wet and dull but plants are good.
Bysedd y cwn - foxglove.
Troed yr iar - common birds foot trefoil.
Mefus gwyllt - wild strawberry.
Dechrau ffrwythau - starting to fruit.
cheers J.P.
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Datblygu blodyn ysgall - Thistle flower developing.
Note the spiral pattern in which this was formed within the bud, this spiral growth pattern is very common in nature. It still amazes me to think the mathematical reasoning for this being the most efficient way nature has found to achieve the end product can be seen in feathers, snail shells and there are spiral galaxies.
Cheers J.P.
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The Fibonacci Sequence, or Series, which describes the spiral mathematically is indeed amazing. Whole books have been written about it and I’ve made a quilt using the early numbers in the series.
Margret, you never fail to amaze me, that’s a real clever idea.
Faint o rywogaethau - how many species. (a question i can only ponder at times).
Pryfed hofran - hover flies.
Images of what i think are three different species of hover flies, I find without being a specialist that i often need to talk about family’s of things (yes it’s easier) as the true answer of species is often difficult to be sure about. They sure are pretty and the idea they mimic wasp colour’s is just another dimension of evolution.
Cheers J.P.
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