A Purple Emperor, Red Admirals and Red Queens

Purple Emperor Butterfly

The different bees and butterflies I've seen over the past few days could form an exotic court. I've seen red queen bees, a Purple Emperor and some Red Admiral butterflies (but sadly no Painted Ladies!) I admit I am fascinated that so many of our butterflies have been given grand or royal names - and I imagine the Purple Emperor gained its name because it is so beautiful and rare. This butterfly is only found in certain places in the south of England, and - where it does exist - it's not easily seen, because it spends its life flying high up in a tree canopy. Only occasionally does the male descend to the ground, and then this lovely butterfly is attracted to (of all things) rotting flesh and animal excrement...

Although that doesn't sound pleasant, I've long wanted to see a Purple Emperor.  I knew that - like the Heath Fritillary I saw a few weeks ago - I was never going to see this butterfly on the smallholding. So; when I discovered that Purple Emperors could be found among some oaks a short drive away, I decided to go there in the hope of seeing one.  I didn't expect to spot one at all, so I was thrilled when I did see a male in the long grass at the foot of a large oak (not settled on anything nasty that I could see). The oak could well have been the 'master tree' in the wood where males gather to intercept females and chase each other away.  This Purple Emperor didn't linger very long, so I could only grab a couple of photos, but it was one of the most exciting butterfly sightings of the summer.

A few minutes later I came across this Red Admiral...

On the smallholding, I've been lucky enough to see lots of butterflies in recent weeks, including Ringlets, Gatekeepers, Small Tortoiseshells, Whites, Meadow Browns and Small Skippers...

I may have seen Essex Skippers, too, but I'm still not brilliant at telling my Small Skippers from my Essex Skippers!!

The Peacocks have found the buddleia (although none of these could be seen at all when I did my Butterfly Count this year).  I'm hoping to see some more Red Admirals, too - as well as Painted Ladies (although I haven't seen these here for a couple of years).

Red Queens

I have all new queen bees hatching in my hives and I now want to mark them so that they're easy to identify among all the other bees. First of all, I have to wait until the queens have returned from their mating flight (this is when they fly off to the 'drone congregation areas' where the males are hanging out waiting for the virgin queens).  When a queen is back from mating and has started to lay eggs, then she's ready to be marked.

Queens are marked with a dot of colour on their thorax from a pen (or paint) and queen bees born this year should be marked red (a different colour every year tells beekeepers how old a queen is).

But marking queens can be difficult in mid-late summer.  There are tens of thousands of bees in the hive and although the queen looks a lot different from the other bees, she can also be hiding under a large heap of them (queens are very good at this). Finding the queen - and then keeping my eye on her while I reach for the red pen - isn't easy. Queens move very fast over the comb and they also don't like the light - their instinct is to go down into the darkness of the hive when the roof is lifted off.  So; if I manage to see the queen, I usually have one shot at it, and then I've lost her.  And I also have to be very careful when I do mark her, because if she becomes smothered in red pen or paint, then the other bees are likely to reject her.

So far, this year, I haven't been able to mark one queen red. The red queens I have seen have been in other people's hives and not mine. So I've been backwards and forwards to the hives with the red pen...

...and it's almost as if the bees know what I'm up to.

Bees in the Garden

The bees have been very active in my garden in the hot weather.  Here are a couple of the flowers they're foraging on at the moment...

Bergamot

Veronica

I've been really lucky to have a wonderful display of lupins this year, probably thanks to the lack of slugs - and these have been loved by the bumblebees. I think this bee looks as though it's going to dive into a plant full of pillows...

And finally, it seems the heatwave may have finished (although it is supposed to be hot again for a couple of days later this week).  Here is one member of our household who hasn't enjoyed the heatwave at all and will be pleased if it's over at last...

Harry in the shade