Tag Archives: insects

Apple Trees update 2020

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You may remember we sprouted some apple seeds in 2014 …

And they grew and grew and grew 😀

and grew 😀

And look at them now! (6ft gardener included for scale)

This one is the tallest and would be much taller but we cut it back each winter to keep it manageable.

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This one is the most flourishing because it hasn’t suffered with aphids like the others have.

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This one is making a comeback after ant and aphid infestations, I’ll tell you why in a minute.

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And this little fella has struggled from the get-go but he’s hanging in there thanks to …

Yay!  The ladybirds have arrived!  And now there’s not an aphid to be seen! 😀

Our apple trees are over six years old – how time flies!

Maybe in another four we’ll get some apples 😀

Have a great day!

 

Only insects

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For the story so far click here 🙂

Reflecto Girl #7 continues from last week:

To be continued.  Watch this space! 😀

[For earlier Reflecto Girl episodes click here]

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This comic is made with Comic Life by Plasq

vegan, vegan children, vegan comics, vegan children’s story, vegetarian, veggie kids, vegan superhero, animal rights, comics, vegan fiction, juvenile fiction, children’s story, animals, insects, bees,

Big Grasshopper

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Big Grasshopper

On the baby apple tree,

I wonder what you’re thinking

While you calmly look at me.

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Photographs by Ralf Kunze and Cocoparisienne of Pixabay

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animals, nature, insects, grasshopper, garden, vegan, photography, poem

 

B is for Bee

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b is for bee

Compiling the vegan dictionary is taking a long time and I won’t be able to complete a letter in one day as I naïvely first thought.  I have only just finished Bb so won’t be able to share any C words until at least tomorrow 🙂  In the meantime, Miranda thought it might be a good idea to post an excerpt of Bb – so here it is:

Bee    noun

Oxford Dictionary definition:  Four-winged stinging insect, collecting nectar and pollen and producing honey and wax.

Our definition:  There are lots of different types of bee in the UK, around 250 species – 24 species of bumble bee, 225 species of solitary bee and just one species of honey bee.  Honey bees will live through the winter, eating and working all winter long, which of course requires a large store of food – hence the honey they’ve worked hard for all summer.  With Bumble bees however, the new queens, after mating, find somewhere to hibernate and the rest of the colony dies off.  While hibernating she does not need to eat so there are no honey stores.  In the spring when she has to work hard, she makes a small pot of honey for herself.    Solitary bees typically produce neither honey nor wax.  They are important pollinators as the females, who are all fertile, build their own nests and take care of their own young so pollen is gathered for provisioning the nest with food for their brood.  Bees gathering nectar (eg honey bees) may accomplish pollination, but bees that are deliberately gathering pollen (eg solitary orchard mason bees) are more efficient pollinators.  There are also 500 species of stingless bee

Save the Bees!

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bee on flower

Save the Bees!

Bees don’t just make honey, they are vital to life on earth, every year pollinating 90% of plants and crops and without immediate action, many of our favourite fruits, vegetables, and nuts could vanish from our shelves.

Recent years have seen a massive decline in bee populations around the world and some bee species are already extinct! A key EU agency is saying that toxic pesticides called neonicotinoids could be responsible for the bee deaths. The EU has banned three of these bee-killers, but giant chemical producers like Bayer and Syngenta continue to export their poison across the world.

Bumble Bee

Bumble Bee

Let’s get people power to counter the powerful pesticide lobby and save bees from extinction. Please sign the urgent petition to leaders around the world, and then share it as wide as you can.

Thank you 😉