Bee Life
Hello world … Breaking out of the nest after a long winter, it’s time to get to work. My little brave bee, instinctively …
*Click on the pictures for a proper look … and click again …
Time to stretch out, on the wall of the hotel, orientation time perhaps. The sky lightening behind, it’s a new world.
Spring cleaning, a relative that didn’t get through the winter is pushed to recycling. Thorough little housekeeper bee.
She lines the nest with resin for protection, some gets spilt on the way in, and she enters backwards to lay an egg.
Not quite finished, she goes to sleep the best she can. Not the safest position in a house full of geckos, but she stings … I know.
On her way to replenishing the earth with bees, one on the other in a deep dark chamber, here sealing up the first nest entrance.
And what’s this, one greeting another to the new world, male looking for a mate, or just saying hello. They talk to one another …
And in case anyone thinks a bee is fragile, I’ll have you know she’s fierce as a lion to protect her ways. Gentle too …
The wasp appeared, at first no threat it seems, no ovipositor I see. A male perhaps, or just young. Found below the bee hotel.
Here she is in fuller form, ovipositor held aloft behind, sitting on the hotel wall, listening for the signs that tell where to …
This is where, where else … She found a place to lay her egg, a bees nest clear as day. The sheath of her delivery rises.
And this is how it goes – the bee does her work and the wasp does hers too, so it turns. Everybody has its time …
Some work for resin, others for the meat, each is born of the earth. Mothers all … except the males of course.
Every year the orange tail resin bees wake up with the warming sun and the moisture of spring rain.
These may all be female bees, mostly found by the nest – a hotel made of a log drilled for their use.
Their primary use seems to be to lay eggs, along with a little food bomb for the larva that will bee.
Another use is protection at night, somewhere to sleep away from all the predators in the garden.
The males live and sleep somewhere else in the garden, not too far away but still a mystery.
Once the bee cycle is underway and some eggs are sealed up in the nest a wasp turns up.
She, the wasp, is also laying eggs, in the bees nest. Her young will take advantage …
And so it goes, one thing dependant on another thing, until completion.
An end that is not ‘just’ another beginning.
But a beginning … without end.
Hmmm …
© Mark Berkery ……. Click on those pictures for a closer look
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Nature's Place 
Such wonderful snaps!! Thanks!
Thanks Lakshmia.
Soo cool photos!!! I LOVE THOSE.
Thanks Ivanov.
Can we call a bee a sweet little thing? Yes, why not …
I think everything that’s captured via macro or microscope is beautiful. :)
Yes, everything is alive and has upholding it the same wonderful mystery as behind the sun and moon. Life is, beautiful, form changes.
Great photos! It’s amazing how magnificent the tiny world of “bugs” are when it’s blown up in high definition.
Thanks Dustin.
Yes, it’s another world not normally seen.
And what could be the purpose of such detail and beauty. Perhaps to amaze …
Fantastic pictures and descriptions! – I learned more about insects -> “ovispositor” organ and checked out other insects online – grasshoppers, cicadas, etc. Appreciate your work.
Thanks Steven.
They basically have all the things we have only different. It’s their nature that is the same, our nature.
First time seen a bee clearly and closely
thanx for such amazing images
keep up the good work
It’s a pleasure …
Thanks Abhay.
Wow! This is amazing! Not what I was expecting at all.
I’m going to show this to my 12yr old nephew. He will be fascinated ….
Thank you Mark for sharing 😁
There’s a hidden world of nature at our feet. Some kids love it.
It’s one way towards peace of mind in a mad world.
Thanks Zoe.
Totally brilliant – great mindfulness and definitely lucky to have seen this all unfolding! Absolutely amazing – how fortunate are we to share your slice of life? Thank you!
Thanks S…
This goes on for a while now, a game of tag between the bee and wasp for position in the survival stakes. A small part of the wonder of instinctive nature.
The pictures and the story are fantastic! Thank you Marc! You are such a talented photographer!
Thanks Simone.
I learned from the best.
Amazing photos!
Thanks Helen.
Wonderful! Thank you for this.
Thanks BOM.
Great photos and story. I especially like the first and last.
Thanks David, appreciated.
Incredible cycle of photos Mark, thank you. A little piece of life drama unfolding in miniature with the wasp taking advantage of the bees work.
Love the pic of the bee with her abdomen sticking out….all the hairs and details to see.
Thanks Lissa. There’s a lot going on we never see.
Wow, stunning shots as always, Mark! Thank you! I wonder how many hours you put in just to get these few that you share.
Thanks Lisa. If I’m going towards the garden I’ll often pick up the camera, sometimes there’s something to shoot, more often not. But I never think of the time involved or spent … that way I’d never do it.