Bumblebee flowers, which to choose? And their ecology

Most popular bumblebee flowers in late July

The garden centre is the obvious place to compare the attractions of different garden flowers. And, I discover, a good place to observe the ecology of bumblebees.

The main bumblebees on view today were white tailed: B terrestris and B lucorum

The most popular flowers by a mile were all colours and varieties of Salvia:

But if you look closely you can see that the bees are cheating the flowers by robbing nectar through a hole in the calyx [sepals] or corolla [tubular petals]

In the photos, nearly every flower has been broken into. 

 


The next most popular flowers were Echinacea



And after that: Penstemon, Veronica, Alstomeria, Cirsium, Helenium, Physostegia

and the Common Carders favoured Nepeta

Where to find bumblebees in late July

In Gardens

My neighbour's Lavendar is buzzing with B terrestris, lapidarius, pascuorum and pratorum, the early bumblebees are still plentiful here. Also a cuckoo bumblebee, R rupestris

In Grassland

The bramble flowers still attract B terrestris 
but the main bumblebee interest is around scabious: B lucorum, 

B terrestris, 

B pratorum

 And these oddities: a cuckoo bumblebee B rupestris?

And a faded B terrestris?

B pascuorum on thistle

October Bumblbee Quest

Where might you find bumblebees now that October is here?

Well on warm sunny days you could try any flowering plants. 

This rosemary bush is still well in flower and was still producing nectar on the 19th October for honey bees and the odd carder bee so there are still active colonies of carder bees.

Also Lavendar where it's still in flower

The other place you might try looking is fruiting ivy which is popular with wasps and bees:

However I saw lots of wasps, the odd hornet and quite a few honey bees but not a single bumblebee. There was a red admiral butterfly that returned several times while I was watching, though.

The ivy has been buzzing with insects today, 20th October.

Bumblebee sightings

Where bumblebees go in September

Here in Gloucestershire there are two places where you can reliably find bumblebees, well OK after borage, teasel, Corydalis, laurel and Buddleia...

  In gardens around here an annual that returns every year is popular with white-tailed bumblebees: Sedum

It's easy to grow and would fit into a small space like a car port.

Out in the countryside 

there seems to be a lot of unclaimed nectar among the white and red clover, trefoil and vetches which are still in flower. 

Is it too windy out in the fallow strips beside the ploughed fields?

The place where I can reliably find bees is by the stream where the mint grows.

Do bumblebees fix on just one source of nectar? 

Sometimes bees can be seen flying from one flower to another of the same species, usually starting from the bottom and working there way upwards. 

Do they overlook other possible sources in a bid to save time? 

Just occasionally I see a bee darting from teasel to corydalis to cranesbill to take tiny sips. 

Is this a sign of desperation due to falling nectar production in late summer?

There are some tree bumblebees around; I just haven't been able to catch one on camera. 

I am trying to find bees other than common carder bees and white-tailed bumblebees.

Bumblebees: using all the senses

Sight, sound and smell are all needed 

 to track down bumblebees in September. 

On windy days like today bee flight can seem erratic. Even if you catch sight of a bee it can rapidly disappear.
   Listening to the buzz may help you to tell wasps, flies and bumblebees apart. The tone of a bumblebee is deeper and by listening carefully you can work out the bee's speed and direction. There are probably differences in tone between bumblebees that would help you identify which bee it is.
  Smell is helpful too in noticing when flowers are producing nectar. Stand by a fruiting ivy in September and you can smell the nectar on the leeward side [the opposite side to the wind].
Yellow Corydalis is a self-sown plant [also known as a weed] attracting bees during mild weather in mid-September:

On mild windy days, yellow corydalis which grows beside walls offers a source of nectar that's less blown about.

The other reliable fall back for bumblebees in rain is white deadnettle:

which seems to provide nectar even on windy and wet days:

Maybe it's more productive than clover and scabious which don't seem to be visited as often in September.

September bumblebees

Where do bumblebees go in September?

You don't see as many bumblebees in late summer but they haven't all disappeared. 

Where to look?

  4 places you could try

1 Ivy

IVY is in fruit throughout September so you could look there but just at the moment wasps and hoverflies seem to dominate:

There are some bumblebees,

 I wonder if wasps are competing with bees and winning, though I think the balance may change as wasps die back in autumn.

2 Garden and wasteland flowers: 

such as the ever abundant Buddleia 

And lavendar

  But also wasteland plants like green alkanet and white deadnettle that are attracting common carder bees:

And of course garden centres and open gardens. 

                                     3 Beside streams:

The much maligned alien plant which aggressively colonises streams and rivers.  In Somerset this week, this is one of the best places to look: the tallest annual in Britain has established a niche: Himalayan Balsam, Impatiens glandulifera

 It may be a musty-smelling invader that flings its seeds explosively up to 4 metres through the air but it's an ideal source of nectar.
In Somerset you find Common carder bees and white-tailed bumblebees climbing inside the policeman helmet-shaped flowers. 

                                     4 In lawns and in the undergrowth:
You might look in the undergrowth, where queen bees are looking for places to hibernate.

Here's a white-tailed queen bumblebee burrowing a hole in a lawn in Somerset.

Directing and storyboarding an animation

How does a film director relate to the animator?

In stop motion animation the director and the animator are often the same person in which case it's vital to differentiate between the two roles. 

Director of the animation:

• A clear vision
• oversees the creative process
• casts the characters
• chooses the location of the set
• decides on lighting, camera position
• Directs the characters
• Sets a mood for each scene
• Chooses a shot list

Animator

• creates characters for close-up, mid-shot and long shot, side profile, head-on
• transforms the characters eg in an explosion
• designs animated backgrounds
• creates props 
• develops transitions between shots
• creates contrast between character and background
• offers ways for characters and background to interact

Between them, the director and animator agree on a storyboard. Story telling involves introducing characters which the audience can relate to, setting a challenge for the main character which leads to conflict which reaches some kind of resolution by the end of the film. 

In animation, characters are few and all are generally introduced in the opening frames. This offers the viewer forewarning so they can anticipate what may unfold and part of the fun of watching film is to be surprised at an unexpected turn of events.

Viewers expect a film to refer back to films seen in the past: borrowing, parody, adaptation, and modernisation are central film-making and lead to recognised genres with styles and typical storylines such as gothic, realist and anime.

Once the storyboard is agreed, 

An animatic is helpful in translating the storyboard into an animation. An animatic is a series of clips or stills using the characters which is played out in real time to test for timing and clarity. 

The animatic may be shown to a naive audience in order to judge its effect. Once the animatic is adapted, the shot list is next. This is a list of all the planned shots in the film, which helps in deciding in what order to shoot the scenes. Usually this is completely different to the final sequence as the opening and closing scenes oftren closely resemble each other, with crucial differences. This saves time in building sets and animating the characters. In craft animation there have to be reserve copies of the characters as the process of filming can damage armatures or models. The shot list may indicate essential shots and optional extra shots.  But in practice, some shots work better than others.

Filming throws up all kinds of practical problems. Lack of time, change in lighting, weather and incidental factors may all prevent the non-essential shots being taken. 

So what happens next? 

Directing involves ditching shots which fail to come across and developing new shots which explain the story better. It may be necessary to make new models of central characters and to change the set to reach internal consistency. When the clips are joined together, some scenes may stand out as inconsistent and need to be thoroughly reworked.

Throughout filming, the director is asking: 

How does this shot develop the story? 

In animation this especially involves transformation and transitions which are impossible in live filming. After each day's filming, the question is: what worked best today and how can filming tomorrow take in these lessons?

Natural Mindfulness

Natural Mindfulness is 'letting Nature in' 

but what does this mean exactly?

  To me, it means look, listen and feel. It's March so we're used to looking out for the first flowers that appear in spring: lesser celandines:

and Coltsfoot

I can't switch off my thinking but I can direct it to the spontaneous events that are happening all around me while walking in nature. Like the emergence of a Comma butterfly from hibernation.

I find listening especially helpful. So I walk slowly, I pause but not in a self-conscious way; I listen for ten seconds and I'm constantly asking myself: 
    "What's special and different today?"
I can't see them but I can hear nuthatches and jackdaws, a buzzard flies overhead. These are the kind of things that make me glad to be alive.
Seasons change imperceptibly but every day reveals more preparations for the season ahead.
Today I heard fieldfares and song thrushes together. These two members of the thrush family overlap but soon the fieldfares will be migrating back to Norway and Sweden to nest.

  So today I heard woodpeckers drumming, a typical sound that belongs to British springtime:

https://vimeo.com/208677486

That greater spotted woodpecker has found a particularly resonant tree which he's using to announce his presence to females and other males.

Look, listen and feel and it's different every day.

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Communicating mindfully in dementia

Talking to a friend or relative with dementia can be frustrating:

are there any tips that help?

My comments on ideas from the 'a place for mom' website

1. Recognize what you’re up against. Dementia advances gradually, strategies may need to change with time
2. Avoid distractions. If talking is effortful, find a quiet time and place to communicate.
3. Speak clearly and naturally in a warm and calm voice. Avoid patronising tones as if you were talking to a child.
4. Refer to people by their names. Use their name and your own name, be prepared to recap.
5. Talk about one thing at a time. Keep the conversation simple.
6. Use nonverbal cues. Look at the person while you're talking and use gestures if needed.
7. Listen actively. Try not to agree with what they say if you haven't understood; though asking for clarification can be hard.
8. Don’t quibble. Let delusions and missatatments go; constantly challenging can shift the mood.
9. Have patience. Be calm, keep a warm tone when you repeat things.
10. Understand there will be good days and bad days. Tiredness, anxiety and discomfort can all disrupt concentration.

I have sometimes noticed people looking bored or embarrassed when visiting an elderly relative. For that reason, I would add four more rules:

1. Make statements whenever you can: 'You look well today' may be more useful than 'How are you today?' Give the person time to qualify a statement.
2. Leave pauses: the spontaneous words may be much more valuable than responses to questions or statements.
3. Try reading aloud: poems, stories or novels. Even people with incoherent speech may respond.
4. Keep a communication book which any visitors or staff can write in so information is shared.

How do you cope when someone lets you down: a natural mindful approach

How do you cope when someone lets you down?

This happened to me today so I'm trying to think of mindful things I can do.

1. "There will be better days":

I like this long-suffering phrase, it reminds me that even when I'm beset by lots of problems it won't be the same tomorrow. Also that however great my angst it is, I'm not dead yet. I can always find a few tiny things I've been putting off so tomorrow really will be better, pay for the central heating, book the bike in to be serviced.

2. Tell people 

Email friends. They won't necessarily respond but some may notice and sympathise. Even more important, tell people you meet. Otherwise they might think you're being antisocial. Ask for what you need: a hug or a talk, text people, phone people, arrange to meet, light up the network of people you know.

3. Walk in Nature

Nothing works as well to restore a mindful state of mind for me as a walk outside. Watching chance happenings, birds soaring, colours in people's gardens, birdsong and the feeling of climbing a hill all help me to feel myself, maybe sad, maybe distracted. So I'm going out walking now... Nature always seems to surprise me with colours, sounds and smells, 

which brings me to:

4. Variety

More variety in food, avoid the cheapest supermarket, have regular drinks and meals, if you don't feel like baking go out and buy a treat. Beware of silently or noisily singing the same old songs, you could be wallowing in morose thoughts ie Leonard Cohen, think of different tunes. Read a poetry book like Staying Alive, mark the poems you'd choose to read aloud to someone. Baking usually helps me but today feels like a day to knit or draw. Any activities that are calming, creative or automatic, colourful. Music too, listening or playing helps me. This is a great opportunity to do things differently.

5. Notice when you forget why you're feeling sad.

This will happen increasingly as time passes but you might even notice it on the first day. It's encouraging to notice how feelings change constantly, sadness to anger, anger to fear. And even a surprising moment of humour or joy. If someone's let me down I can sometimes smile when I remember that I've let people down too. This time the boot's on the other foot.