How Brave I Am

Well, it is not every day that you walk into the middle of a swarm of African Killer Bees. Actually, these may have been Honey Bees, in fact I am pretty sure that these were Honey Bees.

So anyway I was walking past the front garden when I heard a sound that I thought must be machinery. It was very loud and coming from the garden but I couldn’t place it, it wasn’t the sound that a lawnmower makes.

I was standing in the middle of this swarm overwhelmed by their presence and fascinated.

Then I saw the Farmer and told him about them, he kept telling me to get back, they might go for me and I was just saying, “No, why would they do that?” Apparently Bees can be quite dangerous as I learned when the bee keeper turned up.

He told me that no two swarms were alike, some were very aggressive and some were docile. Well, I didn’t know that, anyway this was a docile (ish) bunch.

They formed a ball in the Magnolia and we sent for a bee keeper.

By the time that he got here they had pretty much settled in the tree, he was going to unsettle them.

He was a very nice fellow. Sadly he told me that he had lung cancer and was a bit short of breath but he wasn’t afraid to go up a tree and get the bees. I carried stuff for him.

His technique was pretty simple, “Aren’t you going to calm them with smoke or anything?” I asked, “Nah, it’ll probably be all right.” he told me.

He just went up a ladder and cut away a few branches and then cut the one the bees were on and dropped them into a box.

I did ask for his permission to photograph him at work and he was happy to let me do that.

At this point he has got the bees in his box, most of them and notice that although he is wearing a veil he has not bothered with gloves.

How cool is that?

My antics as I tried to film the proceedings caused the farmer and his friends some amusement. I flinched a bit and dodged, they were getting caught in my hair. I may even have run away a couple of times.

I made a movie to try and capture the ambiance.

This was just one little extra adventure that I was granted yesterday. I get lucky, I get lucky a lot with nature and I am very grateful. This was a wonderful experience. (A bit scary too) Very cool.

Animal Magic

“Just like that”

It’s your destiny

The Swallows have fledged, or at least they are fledging. They are still in the nest today but they have been out and they can fly.

It has taken me a few days watching and all that you get are a couple of short video’s but for me, my understanding and the pleasure that I got from watching them makes a few days just a drop in the ocean. It was time well spent.

Anyway you should be glad that you don’t have to watch the whole twenty hours of video, that I now have to sort and delete from my machine to free up space.

Here are the best bits.

Yesterday morning there were five birds on the nest, there were five birds on the nest and then there were four birds on the nest. I had missed the very first flight and only realised when number five returned to the nest.

This first video starts with the mother calling for them to leave the nest, there is a little comic interlude of the way that they follow flies, their little heads bobbing in unison and in the last bit the second bird to approach the nest is the returning chick. Does he bring food back or do the others just think that he has?

This next video shows them leaving the nest and returning. They spent most of the day fluttering around inside the little alley way that has become their home and by the end of the day they were all settled back on the nest but this is fledging. Today I think that they have ventured outside and seen the blue sky but they still return to the nest.

These birds have made me think a lot about nature as a whole thing and about life and death in the wild. The caterpillars that I am trying to raise are falling to the parasitoid flies that these Swallows depend on for food and survival. The parents have done a really good job of raising them given the wet weather we have been having. I have often looked out in the pouring rain and wondered how they are managing to raise a brood and now this, flight.

I am so in in love and in awe of them and so damned jealous.

I am jealous because they get to eat those delicious crunchy flies, or perhaps because they can raise offspring in a matter of weeks and not the 26 years it usually takes us. Maybe I am jealous of something else altogether…..