Squatters

Posted in Bee, Consciousness, Insects, Life, Love, Macro Photography, Meditation, Nature, Photography, Relaxation, Spirituality, Sustainability, Truth? by Mark on 20/04/2018

The BBB likes to make a nest by tunnelling into dry clay, where it’s sheltered from the elements. Females sleep in the tunnels, males roosting nearby, as a general rule.

*Click on the pictures for a proper look … and click again

From a hole in the side of the mud brick this fly emerged, staggered, looking fresh as … Could be a youngster, I think.

Whatever their normal behaviours are they are unique and amazing little things, no less than the big ones …

This one, a brother perhaps, stumbled out of the same hole and was promptly entangled in a spiders web just below.

Not the first little creature to find itself trapped by nature of another kind, there’s an ant in there too, and that ball …

A mosquito, looks like, ant below it, one leg stretched to the ground, the ball touching it. Ways to die on earth …

This new born bee got its timing wrong, or I need to reorient the brick. It emerged at sundown instead of sunup, and lost its way. I lent a hand …

I made a mud brick with earth from under the roots of a fallen tree and drilled holes for the blue banded bees to nest in.

It took a while for any to take to it this year but a few did and would roost nearby, not a good year for the bees anyway.

In passing I noticed some unexpected activity and bent to investigate. Flies … spiders and others, no surprise really.

Where there’s space for it, life takes form, form dies, and life goes on.

11 comments

11 Responses

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kkessler833 said, on 20/04/2018 at 10:33 am

Wow! Great photos!

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- Mark said, on 20/04/2018 at 2:02 pm
  
  Thanks KK…
  
  Reply
  - kkessler833 said, on 21/04/2018 at 10:33 am
    
    Welcome!
    
    Reply
Jane Lurie said, on 20/04/2018 at 9:55 am

Exquisite images and fascinating tale, Mark. Excellent post.

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- Mark said, on 20/04/2018 at 2:02 pm
  
  Thanks Jane.
  
  Reply
Zezee said, on 20/04/2018 at 9:17 am

“Where there’s space for it, life takes form, form dies, and life goes on.”
Ah! Really like that.

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- Mark said, on 20/04/2018 at 2:00 pm
  
  Thanks Zee …
  
  Reply
Living Soils said, on 20/04/2018 at 6:33 am

mark – as always great pictures. I love the closeups of insects. Keep up the good work!

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- Mark said, on 20/04/2018 at 1:59 pm
  
  Thanks Bill … as long as I can.
  
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Teale Britstra said, on 20/04/2018 at 6:28 am

BBBs aren’t social but they are a little gregarious – they like to nest in the company of other BBBs. So while you may have only had a low number use the mud bricks this year, I suspect that the numbers will increase in future years once they realise that they can move in and have close neighbours :-)

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- Mark said, on 20/04/2018 at 1:59 pm
  
  That may be so. Or the location needs adjusting. Plus there was very little insect activity this past year, don’t know why. We’ll see …
  
  Reply