Wandering around the patio with my camera slung round my neck, waiting in anticipation of what might flit past me I was intrigued to find that it was actually my sense of hearing that was pulled to attention before anything else.
In front of me was a pile of sleepers, some Purple Vetch, a wooden planter and an old hollow tree trunk lent up against it for decorative effect & I was suddenly aware of a scratching sound - or was it popping - or nibbling - I wasn't sure, but it was pretty loud! There was something there, but where?
It was either coming from the hollow log or the planter so I lifted the hollow log away & the sound came with it! Aha! It was in the log.
I listened more closely & realised it was a nibbling sound - was it a beetle or shock horror - woodworm?! No there were no woodworm-sized holes. Phew! I looked all around the outside of the bark for tell-tale signs - nothing! I was going crazy - there was this incessant nibbling and nothing to see! What the hell was it?
Then, all of a sudden, a "poof" of sawdust shot out from the inside of the log - and there at the top of the inside of the hollowed out log was a hole no bigger than 1cm across. Something had kicked the sawdust out and was nibbling a tunnel through my log! What could it be? Well I got myself comfortable on a garden chair & positioned myself with the camera resting on the log ready to snap whatever it was as it emerged.
20 minutes later... still nothing to see, another 10 minutes of nibbling and I could feel the back of my neck burning in the midday sun and the guilty pull of all the housework I should be getting on with inside.
Then all of a sudden - pop - a furry bottom! A bee was backing out of the hole! I snapped & snapped, but only got this rather unflattering shot - it was so fast! Off it flew, probably to get itself some lunch.
After a bit of research I found out that this was a type of carpenter bee - you can see why.
I checked a couple of times later in the day & the nibbling was still going on. Two days later she was still nibbling! She was one busy little mum-to-be-bee!
In front of me was a pile of sleepers, some Purple Vetch, a wooden planter and an old hollow tree trunk lent up against it for decorative effect & I was suddenly aware of a scratching sound - or was it popping - or nibbling - I wasn't sure, but it was pretty loud! There was something there, but where? It was either coming from the hollow log or the planter so I lifted the hollow log away & the sound came with it! Aha! It was in the log.
I listened more closely & realised it was a nibbling sound - was it a beetle or shock horror - woodworm?! No there were no woodworm-sized holes. Phew! I looked all around the outside of the bark for tell-tale signs - nothing! I was going crazy - there was this incessant nibbling and nothing to see! What the hell was it?
Then, all of a sudden, a "poof" of sawdust shot out from the inside of the log - and there at the top of the inside of the hollowed out log was a hole no bigger than 1cm across. Something had kicked the sawdust out and was nibbling a tunnel through my log! What could it be? Well I got myself comfortable on a garden chair & positioned myself with the camera resting on the log ready to snap whatever it was as it emerged.
20 minutes later... still nothing to see, another 10 minutes of nibbling and I could feel the back of my neck burning in the midday sun and the guilty pull of all the housework I should be getting on with inside.
Then all of a sudden - pop - a furry bottom! A bee was backing out of the hole! I snapped & snapped, but only got this rather unflattering shot - it was so fast! Off it flew, probably to get itself some lunch.After a bit of research I found out that this was a type of carpenter bee - you can see why.
I checked a couple of times later in the day & the nibbling was still going on. Two days later she was still nibbling! She was one busy little mum-to-be-bee!
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