Family came......

it was hot, and humid, debilitating temperatures were blowing up from southern Europe

a thinly veiled mist hung across the valley bottom 

not so, on our hilltop eerie, where skies were clear. We strolled hoping for respite and cooler air, but the caressing breezes felt warm

Suddenly thunderous clouds rolled in, then just as quickly rolled out

I stooped to capture the small seeds of the thistle attached to pappus umbrellas of hairs acting like parachutes transporting them away to far distant corners. 
"What's that?" in the clump of thistles youngest son had heard a noise - a loud long continuous song sounding like a sewing machine in need of oil. An impossible insect to spot being blessed with perfect camouflage, unless you happen to catch his song. He starts his singing in the afternoon which continues throughout the night. Don't touch, he can give you a nasty bite.

This is the singing male 

A Great Green Bush-cricket - Tettigonia viridissima -

by far our largest Bush-cricket measuring about 4 - 5 cms long - bright green for camouflage with an orangey-brown stripe running the length of its body with long wings. In England only found in the southern half of the country - my first ever sighting

and this is the female presumably enamoured by his singing

 Look how well the male and female both blend in with the thistle stems and leaves

Going Like Hot Cakes

Remember this?

I placed the little bee chalet on one of our sunniest house walls three weeks ago hoping for some visitors. Today I was delighted to discover this:-

We have 25% occupancy already 

All of these tunnels now contain lots of eggs laid by a female solitary bee and then sealed in by her. The sealing material is fibrous - chewed up assorted vegetation and mud.

Apparently female eggs are laid at the far end of the tunnel along with some pollen for the bee larvae to eat when it hatches, and then sealed in before laying the next egg. The male eggs are laid at the entrance to the tunnel so that they emerge first in the spring. I have also discovered that I need to place the chalet somewhere dry during the autumn where they will be safe from rainy weather and not succumb to parasites or fungi. The young bees will stay dormant in the tunnels during the winter then leave in the spring.

Until I did a bit of research I did not realise that it was going to take a whole year for the cycle to be completed.

Next April the chalet tunnels will have to be cleaned out with a stiff brush ready for the process to begin again.

There is much more to this than I originally imagined, but our gardens should be the beneficiaries - lots more fruit, flowers, and vegetables.

UPDATE

Caught in the act sealing up tunnel No. 7

p.s Female bees hatch from fertilised eggs, males from unfertilised eggs

Greek Honey

Walking into the community of Nikiti we were hit by the tangible perfume of honey drifting through the air. In this small town alone there are 150 beekeepers who manage over 85,000 bee colonies and produce 1200 tonnes of honey annually, an eighth of Greece's total production.

Honey is considered to be the worlds most ancient of sweeteners and has been used across the millennia. Aristole called it the nectar of the Gods. Greek mythology tells that Zeus was raised on honey.

The Greeks love honey - drizzled over their rich creamy yogurt, soaked in cakes, and pastries - loukamades (honey puff balls) melamacarano (honey macaroon cookies) sesame and honey bars.

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From ancient times honey has not only been used as a sweetener but as a natural beauty agent, and in some cultures used for its medicinal attributions. I did a post here on the medicinal wound healing qualities of Mānuka Honey.

Honey contains small amounts of a wide array of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and antioxidants too.

At the honey co-operative we were asked if we knew what these were? Which of course we did, they are so similar to our own bee skep. 

The Greek skeps appear to be made of cane then covered in clay whilst ours is made of straw woven together with cane.

A thought to ponder, a singleproduces a gram of honey every 9 - 12 days after she has visited about 30,000 - 40,000 flowers. No wonder we use the term "busy as a bee".

The Poignant Dance of the Mayflies

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The river rises, flows over its banks and carries us all away like mayflies floating downstream. They stare at the sun, then all at once there is nothing.

Utanapishtiu, The Epic of Gilgamesh - a legend from ancient Babylon and Akkad. 

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There are no two ways about it the Mayflies life is short, lasting from 30 minutes to one day, very occasionally two days. It often occurs that an entire population of mayflies hatch together during a couple of days around the end of May or beginning of June. Their primary function is reproduction, but as their journey begins and they emerge from the rivers and streams they face dangerous hazards from hungry fish such as trout, ducks, and birds who are on the look out for insects to feed their fledglings.

Before becoming Mayflies they live as nymphs in the riverbeds, hiding under rocks in the sediment and feeding on algae. The nymph stage can last for several years during which time it will shed its body skin more than 20 times whilst maturing and developing.

We have both seen the Mayflies dance, just once, when we were visiting the Highlands of Scotland last June. We had finished our evening meal and were taking a stroll along the river bank during the dying embers of a warm June day. It was twilight, a deep orange sun was sinking rapidly behind tall trees on the horizon. We were admiring the River Dulnain at the spot where it is crossed by an ancient packhorse bridge .

Suddenly, we became aware of huge flies dancing just above our heads, glinting and shimmering gold in the dying sunlight, their performance greatly enhanced by their long surreal tails. We were delighted and amazed as we admired their balletic movements but were unsure as to what exactly they were. As we watched our growing anxiety was whether they might be a giant species of mosquito who would relish making a meal of us. How wrong could we be? It wasn't until we watched a BBC nature film shown recently that we realised just what a special and magical scene we had witnessed. We had been party to the dying, dancing, moments of the female Mayflies. They were judging where would be the perfect spot in the river to lay their eggs before plunging themselves down into the flowing waters to deposit their precious cargo and die.
If you would like to view four brief BBC videos about the life of the Mayflies you can see them here.