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RE: Bees in Oregon in Winter

beacon_dave — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 13:28:28 GMT

[mention:dc11ece8204f479e8dce2a47a33b20d3:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] Any signs of bee activity over there yet this year ? Any signs of activity at the bee hotel ?

I spotted a few bumblebees active here in the front garden this week but I'm still a bit lacking in flowers at the moment, just a few Muscari and Crocus in flower. I think I need to get a few Helleborus to cater for the over Winter / early Spring diners as the seasons are starting to merge here. As it was a mild Winter, bees were still active in the garden here in December.

I think the 'buffet table' is fully set here for Summer/Autumn though. The majority of the Alliums planted last Autumn have appeared and are currently 'solar recharging'.

RE: Saving the bees old style - part 3

beacon_dave — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 17:56:49 GMT

The buff tail bumblebees are back in town for another feeding frenzy...

RE: Bees Monitor With Predators Repellent # 7 - Testing The Water Sprayer System

lexx28 — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 09:53:59 GMT

Great work! Couldn't you get rid of the MKR WAN by just directly attaching a Relay to the Nicla Vision? This Relay then triggers water spray system.

RE: Save the Bees Mystery Prizes

DAB — Sat, 29 Jul 2023 18:17:30 GMT

Well earned Douglas, I always follow your projects.

RE: Save the Bees Mystery Prizes

ntewinkel — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 22:49:19 GMT

I saw your video on YT this morning while having breakfast [emoticon:c4563cd7d5574777a71c318021cbbcc8]

My package arrived later in the day. Naomi took a picture of Christmas in July here [emoticon:752f32bcc91d4a448db162742a877a4a]

Not sure if there's an ideal height or place to hang it, but I've hung up the insect hotel on the North side of the carriage house because there was still a screw there haha.

I just realized... I have element14 branded T-shirt, hat, and socks! Just need some underpants and I can go outside in e14 clothing without being arrested [emoticon:4191f5ee34e248a29fa0dbe8d975f74a]

RE: Save the Bees Mystery Prizes

genebren — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 15:33:27 GMT

Nice prize pack (finisher and mystery)! Looks like the stuff for some interesting future projects.

RE: Save the Bees Mystery Prizes

cstanton — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 13:32:37 GMT

As always, you create quite the buzz, thanks Doug [emoticon:c4563cd7d5574777a71c318021cbbcc8]

RE: Save the Bees Design Challenge - Finisher's Prize

e14phil — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 13:19:14 GMT

Hey [mention:dc11ece8204f479e8dce2a47a33b20d3:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] thanks for your update! I'm sorry we didn't have that exactly house, but it really looks like you found some where great for it. Thank you for your update and post. Its really great to see.

RE: Save the Bees Design Challenge - Finisher's Prize

beacon_dave — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 08:14:08 GMT

Looking good but your hotel perhaps needs CCTV installing [emoticon:c4563cd7d5574777a71c318021cbbcc8]

I suspect that the wasp on the lettuce is looking for caterpillars and other bug type prey ?

I've currently got 'Dock Beetles' (metallic green) chomping holes in the leaves of the new Fuchsia plants and Sawfly grubs devouring the new climbing roses. (This tending to nature stuff is tricky !). The Fuchsia are already in heavy flower even in their first year and attracting bees.

Some bumbles are showing interest in the flowering Oxalis plants now that the Alliums are nearing their end of flowering, so hopefully a stop gap until the replacement Salvia plants catch up and start to come into flower and provide interest into Autumn.

RE: Saving the bees old style

beacon_dave — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 15:10:27 GMT

The bumblebees are still very active here but the Allium Sphaerocephalon have taken a bit of a pounding for sure.

They quickly start to fade to grey once the bees have done their bit (or perhaps the rainfall here just rinses the colour out !).

Having increased to around 80 plants this year has made them last longer though.

The next offering on the bee-friendly buffet table was supposed to be Salvia, however it looks like I was sent frost-damaged stock earlier in the year, so I've just been removing it all and replacing with replacement plants which arrived this morning. At least these ones have all got leafy green bits where they are supposed to have leafy green bits by now. They have a bit of catching up to do but half of them should flower into October.

RE: Saving the bees old style - part 3

scottiebabe — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 17:30:43 GMT

These are wonderful photos! May I ask how close you needed to get the camera lens to the subject while taking these photos?

RE: Saving the bees old style - part 3

dougw — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 06:45:45 GMT

Looks like you have a whole new hobby..[emoticon:a2a6a15ca6b94f3599c360d19eb0d71a]

RE: Saving the bees old style - part 3

beacon_dave — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 19:52:03 GMT

And for those that are into hoverflies...

RE: Saving the bees old style - part 3

shabaz — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 19:29:34 GMT

Great work! Your garden must have been really well lit by the sun. Amazing how sharp the photos are.

RE: Saving the bees old style - part 2

DAB — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 18:06:19 GMT

Great closeups.

What camera and macro lens did you use?