Hive of Activity

As activities in recent months have revolved around designing, printing and displaying my work, returning to the nature which has inspired so much of my work has been thoroughly enjoyable. Having missed recent developments in the garden, I decided to make the most of some beautiful weather and take the time to observe different plant species, and the insects they are attracting to the garden. I was thrilled to see a wide range of different Bumblebees frequenting the garden, including a female Cuckoo Bumblebee (my eye is not expert enough to distinguish exactly which) and honey bees. As stated in a previous post, we plant as many nectar and pollen rich plants in the garden as possible in the hopes of encouraging the growth of the bee population, however this has had an unexpected consequence. During my time in the garden I suddenly became aware of a rather noisy swarm descending upon the garden. Closer inspection revealed the swarm to be thousands of Honey Bees, whom had decided to build a hive beneath our new birdbath. Watching the vast mass of bees was utterly fascinating, I eagerly await the development of our hive and what may come next!