May 20th World Bee Day

 Today is World Bee Day 

World Bee Day is celebrated on 20th May each year, marking the birthday of Anton Janša, a pioneer of modern beekeeping. The event is designated by the United Nations to raise global awareness of the importance of bees and all pollinators.

There are now lots of websites about bees, spotting, identifying and recording. This was one website that popped up........... The Bumblebee Conservation Trust

This information sheet I've had around for ages and now it's stuck in a scrapbook to keep

This photo below is from May 2024 when the Ceanothus (Californian Lilac) was buzzing with all sorts of bees, this year the flowers are just as blue and beautiful but with the colder spring and chilly wind there are very few bees about.

I picked up this leaflet about spotting Yellow Legged or  Asian Hornets from somewhere last year, thankfully not established in this country yet, although they are spreading. They are predators of honey bees and other pollinators and were first spotted in the UK in 2016. Thank goodness for monitoring and eradication but still 120 sightings were recorded up to summer of last year. All sightings must be reported . This is a link HERE

Back Soon

Two Books and a Scoop.........

 .....were my car boot sale finds on Saturday.

Unusual to find two books at a boot sale that look interesting.

I dithered over the 'Back of Beyond' as the man was insistent on wanting £2 -  hate paying that much! I wasn't 100% sure that I'd not read it but knew there was an interesting, old  book about trees by this author on my shelves and thought that on Amazon for 'Back of Beyond' it would be more than £2 for sure. 

Thank goodness it wasn't listed in my book of books read and would be between £5 and £22 on Amazon so £2 was OK after all.

The other book was in a house clearance box so just 50p and is also about someone who bought an old cottage but this one is in Australia - that's a bit different.

The 50p scoop is for the greenhouse for compost - had one just like this but it split last year, which I only remembered after spending ages looking for it a few weeks ago.

Back Tomorrow

Signed Out and The Horse Chestnut Tree

 Very odd things happening with google here - it kept signing me out of the blog over the weekend. I managed to sign back  in twice after a lot of faff with passwords etc and having to get  number codes sent to my phone. It didn't last long as I was signed out again on Sunday!  I tried to find out why but the answers were a bit vague. Eventually I got back in again long enough to write this and   I think my comments on other blogs may have popped up as anonymous, so apologies for that.

  It was not just google who didn't know who I was  but also outlook (hotmail), BBC iplayer, Facebook Groups and  Wordle although I would have lost my streak anyway - the word was BYLAW. I only got the A!

**************************

The Horse Chestnut I'm following through the year has changed so much in the month since mid April .

It's looking lovely with the white flower 'candles' and the leaves fully open but fresh  still Spring green.

And who knew all the ways the bark is/was used............

Horse chestnut bark (Aesculus hippocastanum) is a traditional herbal ingredient, rich in aescin and tannins, used to support circulatory health, specifically targeting vein health, reducing leg heaviness, and treating vascular issues. Primarily prepared as a decoction or tea, the bark is used for its astringent properties and can be used in topical preparations.

I'll not be trying it!

I'm scheduling this post for Monday morning and will see what happens, will I be signed in or not - that is the question. 

Back soon..................... I hope