bombus of the week!

Bee on Catnip Parnassus. I grew this plant from seed (from the matchless www.chilternseeds.co.uk/) in 2000. It has moved house once and always returned reliably, this year reaching the heady height of approximately 5'10". The bees love all the tiny blue flowers.

Bee on Scabious (from a box of mixed 'butterfly and bee' seed).

This is the Bee of the Week! An amateur macrophotographer's dream: a completely exhausted bee, literally falling off his or her (or it's?) Feverfew flower (sown by fairies in the night). I was using my new lens reversal ring and also tubes 1+2; when i uploaded, i could not believe that i'd been able to get so close to this amazing creature.

The poor thing was stuperous enough to mistake my finger for vegetation.

So, following advice i once heard on the radio, i put a spot of honey in front of the bee. The tongue emerged instantly and when i looked, half an hour later, the bee had flown away.