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where have all these bees come?
the last two days i have had hundreds of bees in the garden and the are all sitting on a bush in my garden (does anyone know what bush it is?) there are literally a bee on each leaf, ive had a look around the garden to see if i can see where they are coming from but can't see anything, they seem to appear mainly in the afternoon when the sun is on the bush but are settling on other things too briefly but this bush seems to be the place if you are a bee, ive never had them here before
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Don't know what the bush is Sanjy, but it looks like you have a nest of bees close by
Sorry think I had hiccups
Bush might be Euonymus japonicus.
In the sticks near Peterborough
been out and had another look as there is still about a dozen still on the bush and they definitely look like drone flies, ive read up and they don't bite or sting so that's good.
nutcutlet, thanks for that had a look on google images and looks like it is Euonymus japonicus, my husband spent a day digging that out from the end of the garden (where the new garage is going) and transported late last summer, That is why it has strange gaps in it as it lost quite a few branches but it seems happy now and is producing new growth.
we also transported a 20 foot cordyline (against all advice) but it had to be moved and was worth a go, we managed to get it out tap root intact, took 5 of us to lift it into place and it has slowly lost some leaves but fingers crossed it sprouts some new shoots even if it loses all its present leaves.
Hi Sanjy - it sounds as if you have the natural observation skills and stubborn determination to be a real gardener
Hoping to hear good news of that cordyline (and the rest of the garden).
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
As matter of interest what bush with yellow flowers and vicious thorns flowering now is attractive to Bumble bees and protected as such (not mine but my brother says a neighbour has one
Gorse?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
'Literally' a bee on each leaf? I don't see that. They aren't bees,there doesn't seem to be much forage for them. They are Hoverflies possibly Eristalis tenax (Syrphidae) in Ordo 'Diptera' . Bees are of Ordo 'Hymenoptera' the membrane wings. The markings are an example of Bartesian mimicry. Easy mistake to make, which is a reason for their survival.
Dorset UK
Ulex spp (Fabaceae) Gorse? though it isn't protected to my knowledge
That was the only thing I could think of. Apparently said neighbour was having his rather overgrown hedge trimmed and the man doing it said he couldn't cut this bit back as it was protected at this time of the year because of the bumble bees. The gorse is flowering everywhere round here but not in anybody's hedges. The hedge trimming though is in the middle of Nailsea , a very urban area. Brother said there's always a lot of big bees about