I don't consider myself askevidekatriaphobic but its a lovely word isn't it??
Anyway, today's post is about bugs. You may recall that I dug up an area of lawn in our garden earlier this year and sowed lots of wildflower seeds in an effort to attract pollinating insects which are in serious decline in the UK. Next year the wildflower bed will be better still but I'm really pleased with what we've achieved in just a few weeks - doing our bit to encourage the bees and protect our local fruit growers..... can't imagine Kent without Kentish strawberries, cherries or apples all of which rely on having the trees/plants pollinated.
Some photos:
This one has been busy - just look how full his 'pollen paniers' are
actually I'm not sure about this next one ... friend or foe?? I've read that we have 46 species of native ladybirds in the UK but they are under threat from Harlequin Ladybirds which were introduced to the US from Asia 25 years ago as a form of pest control and spread to Europe. They are larger and more aggressive than our natives and are now the most dominant in London and the South East.
I think this could well be a Harlequin?
anyway from buzzy bugs to something that has bugged me recently.
I didn't know till I was told yesterday that anybody leaving a comment on my Blog has to go through that irritating Captcha routine of typing in numbers/letters that are usually so fuzzy you have to change them a couple of times before you find one you can read (well that's what I do, but my eyesight aint what it used to be)!! I read/approve all comments on my site prior to publication so I certainly didn't opt to use Captcha and I really don't know how long this has been going on.
Apologies ... I have now removed Captcha requirement from my Blog. If you want to do the same for your Blogs you have to do the following:
go to COMMENTS
to to SETTINGS
go to COMMENTS (smaller tab under Settings)
go to SHOW WORD VERIFICATION FOR COMMENTS and change setting to NO
There is a note there saying Blog authors will not see word verification for comments so I guess most Bloggers don't know this is switched on unless told. Many thanks to Jo for alerting me. I know a couple of Bloggers who have got so fed up with Captcha that they've left Blogger and set up alternative blogs via their websites.
Right, back to work now. Almost finished the current dog commission but need guidance from my client regarding coat colour (its a beautiful yellow lab but colour varies quite considerably from photo to photo so I'll probably need to make adjustments) Hopefully will be able to post some WIP next week.
That's a new word to me, ASKEVIDEKATRIAPHOBIA there seem to be a lot of different words for fear of Friday 13. Triskaidekaphobia is the one most used here.
ReplyDeleteEngland is not alone with the problem of pollinators. Bees are declining in the North Americas too. We also have the problem with those ladybirds (lady bugs here), horrid things, they get into everything.
Wow, Sue! Are those flowers from your wildflower garden? They look like well-cultivated domestic flowers to me. When we planted "wildflowers" we just got mostly black-eyed Susans and other yellow flowers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jo about those Asian beetles - they are such pests and get in the house and die then stink!
I hate the Captcha also. It used to be easier to read but now is a real PITA! I switched if off on my blog but the spammers came on like gangbusters. Surely there's a better solution!
Hi Jo
ReplyDeletePerversely the bees got quite angry when I tried to photograph them ... no gratitude at all!! :-)
Yep, they are wildflowers Jan - mostly poppies although some very colourful and ornamental types.
The exception is the pale pink flower in photos 5 & 6 which is a Japanese Anemone called "Robustissima". which was given to me 4 years ago and just goes from strength to strength - the bees love it and its very pretty and a great weed suppresor!
Just been reading your last few blog entries Sue - your life is never dull!!! You could write a book with all your adventures, it all makes for a fascinating read. Our IT fellow suggested downloading a free program called Malware for removing all such viruses and Malware after Norton failed to remove a Trojan virus from our computer that had us going back to factory settings just to get it functional again.
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