Showing posts with label Pollen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pollen. Show all posts
Monday, 11 April 2016
Wednesday, 30 March 2016
Busy bees
The bees are so fed up with this cold grey weather that they really make the most of it as soon as the sun shines. This morning there was a lot of pollen being brought in. As soon as they saw the camera the bees were pausing on the outside of the hive to have their picture taken before going in. The photos show well the variation in colours of the bees (for non-beekeepers, the bees all have the same mother but many different fathers) and in the size and colour of their pollen loads.
Because the light was good there was an opportunity to try a few flight shots as well.
Most of the pollen was bright yellow, usually with very full baskets, with some medium sized loads of orange and occasional cream or pale yellow.
Because the light was good there was an opportunity to try a few flight shots as well.
Most of the pollen was bright yellow, usually with very full baskets, with some medium sized loads of orange and occasional cream or pale yellow.
Monday, 21 September 2015
Ghost bees
At the end of the summer we see a lot of white bees around, a sure sign that they have been collecting nectar from Himalayan balsam. Here is a honey bee emerging from a balsam flower covered in white pollen.
The bees seem to find the pollen a nuisance or an irritant and spend a lot of time scraping it off.
One place they cannot reach is the back of the thorax so they end up with a very characteristic white mark when they get back to the hive. I don't know where balsam grows close to my home but the bees have certainly found it.
Honey bees seem to collect very little of this pollen. This bee has a small amount in its pollen baskets but nearly all the pollen being brought in is from other flowers (and is of other colours). The bees are very fond of the balsam nectar but the pollen is presumably not of the quality they are after.
Bumblebees are also very keen on the nectar. This bee has its tongue out even before getting into the flower.
Bumblebees seem also to dislike the pollen. I haven't seen a bumblebee with white pollen in its baskets. This common carder bee had been collecting brown pollen before stopping by for the nectar.
The bumblebees also spend a lot of time grooming to get rid of the pollen. These two show how they can't quite reach the small of their backs with their middle legs.
This is a solitary bee emerging from a balsam flower but it has so much pollen on it that it is difficult to tell what species it is.
Wasps are enthusiastic visitors for the nectar as well.
The Himalayan balsam flower is beautifully designed. It has a landing platform at the front but the nectary is right at the back. Here there is a small drop of overflowing nectar.
The bees pass through the flower and under the anthers in the roof of the flower, getting covered in pollen as they do so.
The flower is in two parts so they sometimes emerge through the side but almost always seem to go in the front.
The fertilised flower produces a seed pod which distributes its seeds with explosive force and ends up with the spring sprung like this. A single plant produces up to 800 seeds. The seeds can end up up to 4m away but as the plant commonly grows at the waterside the seeds can obviously travel much farther.
Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) was introduced to the UK as a garden plant in 1839 but soon escaped into the wild. It is a non-native invasive plant listed on schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act in England and Wales. It grows very tall and out-competes native plants thus promoting riverbank erosion. It is widespread throughout the UK. This photo shows how it has spread along the banks of the river Nene in Northamptonshire.
There is another non-native balsam found on our riverbanks - orange balsam, Impatiens capensis. Also known as orange jewelweed, it is a native of North America but seems much less invasive than Himalayan balsam over here.
It seem that we are stuck with Himalayan balsam. It is much more widespread than other alien invaders such as Japanese knotweed and giant hogweed and will be impossible to eradicate. The bees won't be complaining though as it is their favourite source of nectar at this time of year.
The bees seem to find the pollen a nuisance or an irritant and spend a lot of time scraping it off.
One place they cannot reach is the back of the thorax so they end up with a very characteristic white mark when they get back to the hive. I don't know where balsam grows close to my home but the bees have certainly found it.
Honey bees seem to collect very little of this pollen. This bee has a small amount in its pollen baskets but nearly all the pollen being brought in is from other flowers (and is of other colours). The bees are very fond of the balsam nectar but the pollen is presumably not of the quality they are after.
Bumblebees are also very keen on the nectar. This bee has its tongue out even before getting into the flower.
Bumblebees seem also to dislike the pollen. I haven't seen a bumblebee with white pollen in its baskets. This common carder bee had been collecting brown pollen before stopping by for the nectar.
The bumblebees also spend a lot of time grooming to get rid of the pollen. These two show how they can't quite reach the small of their backs with their middle legs.
This is a solitary bee emerging from a balsam flower but it has so much pollen on it that it is difficult to tell what species it is.
Wasps are enthusiastic visitors for the nectar as well.
The Himalayan balsam flower is beautifully designed. It has a landing platform at the front but the nectary is right at the back. Here there is a small drop of overflowing nectar.
The bees pass through the flower and under the anthers in the roof of the flower, getting covered in pollen as they do so.
The flower is in two parts so they sometimes emerge through the side but almost always seem to go in the front.
The fertilised flower produces a seed pod which distributes its seeds with explosive force and ends up with the spring sprung like this. A single plant produces up to 800 seeds. The seeds can end up up to 4m away but as the plant commonly grows at the waterside the seeds can obviously travel much farther.
Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) was introduced to the UK as a garden plant in 1839 but soon escaped into the wild. It is a non-native invasive plant listed on schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act in England and Wales. It grows very tall and out-competes native plants thus promoting riverbank erosion. It is widespread throughout the UK. This photo shows how it has spread along the banks of the river Nene in Northamptonshire.
There is another non-native balsam found on our riverbanks - orange balsam, Impatiens capensis. Also known as orange jewelweed, it is a native of North America but seems much less invasive than Himalayan balsam over here.
It seem that we are stuck with Himalayan balsam. It is much more widespread than other alien invaders such as Japanese knotweed and giant hogweed and will be impossible to eradicate. The bees won't be complaining though as it is their favourite source of nectar at this time of year.
Sunday, 9 August 2015
The bee's knees
Inspired by Rusty Burlew's recent blog post on how honey bees fill their pollen baskets I have been taking a few photos to show the process in action. The bee collects pollen grains on her body hairs and legs as she visits flowers. I read that she also moistens the pollen grains with regurgitated nectar to make them more sticky. By grooming with all six legs she moves the pollen onto the inside of the lower part of her back legs - the basitarsus. These three photos show the two main parts of the bee's back leg below the "knee", the triangular tibia above and the rectangular basitarsus below. These two segments are hinged at the front and the space between them and behind the joint is used to collect pollen into the pollen basket - the smooth lower part of the tibia, surrounded by a line of stiff curved hairs.
The inner surface of the basitarsus has horizontal ridges of stiff hairs which form a brush for collecting pollen. It is about 2x1mm, so not the easiest part of a bee to photograph!
The space between the tibia and the basitarsus contains a row of hairs - the pollen rake - and the bee uses this to scrape the pollen grains off the basitarsus into the gap. By straightening her leg the bee closes the pollen press and compresses the pollen which is squeezed up into the pollen basket on the outside of the tibia.
Here you can see the early stage of the formation of a pollen pellet in the pollen basket and see where the pollen has been squeezed up from below.
As pollen is collected the pollen pellet grows and is contained by the hairs around the pollen basket.
The space between the tibia and the basitarsus contains a row of hairs - the pollen rake - and the bee uses this to scrape the pollen grains off the basitarsus into the gap. By straightening her leg the bee closes the pollen press and compresses the pollen which is squeezed up into the pollen basket on the outside of the tibia.
Here you can see the early stage of the formation of a pollen pellet in the pollen basket and see where the pollen has been squeezed up from below.
The bees on these Eryngium giganteum flowers were collecting nectar but not pollen. Their pollen baskets contained different colours collected elsewhere. This one has a small amount of grey pollen - possibly blackberry.
As pollen is collected the pollen pellet grows and is contained by the hairs around the pollen basket.
The tibia is concave to help retain the pollen.
As more pollen is collected the pollen pellet expands upwards. These photos also show that the hairs around the pollen basket become embedded in the pollen to help secure it.
The pollen remains firmly attached to the bee's legs until she gets back to the hive. She removes it with her middle legs into a cell in the comb where it is packed by the house bees. These last photos show the hairs around the pollen basket and the ridges of hairs on the inner surface of the basitarsus.
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