Bees in the news
Category: Bees, Climate Change, Culture, Ecology | Date: Oct 16 2009 | By: dududiaries
Bees in the news
Dear All – here are a couple of links that might be of interest. Bees have been in the news over the last couple of days.
Newsweek has an article about the effect of bees disappearing on agriculture.
Here is the link to it:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/141461
And George Monbiot who writes for The Guardian has a piece on the failure of science to investigate the effects of pesticides on bees:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/oct/14/bees-scientific-research
Please spare a moment if you can to look at them. Bees are in deep trouble, especially in Europe and North America as well as parts of Asia such as China. Whatever the may causes behind the decline of bees, especially the honeybee, we need to wake up and start doing something about it.
There is also a new film out called ‘The Vanishing Bees’, you can watch a trailer and learn more about it here:
More soon – was just watching some honeybees foraging on the flowers of some acacias, will share those pictures shortly.
Blog Action Day - Climate Change!
Category: Climate Change, Culture, Ecology, Lakes | Date: Oct 15 2009 | By: dududiaries
Dear All - thanks for the kind comments - only just saw them!
Will post a link to the BBC piece asap.
On a separate note, today is Blog Action Day and the topic of focus is climate change. As I write this it is raining outside (unusual that its before 7 am) and this is the first real rain we have had this year! It last drizzled here on the 24th of July - so we’ve had almost three months with NO rain at all. Livestock and wildlife are suffering all around, as are people, who depend on the grasslands and rivers for survival.
Insects are just one group of creatures that are deeply affected by climate change - butterflies and bees get confused about when to forage or leave their hives, and are more susceptible to diseases and parasites when stressed by unusual weather patterns…
For more information on this global event, please look at
More from the world of bugs soon!
Incredible!
Category: Culture, Ecology, Spiders | Date: Oct 14 2009 | By: dududiaries
Dear All – many thanks for the kind comments and I will respond to some of the questions soon. I just found and photographed the most incredible ‘creepy-crawlies’ in my house this evening.
As I was brushing my teeth, I noticed someone watching me quietly from the corner. The area around my sink is fairly sheltered and there are several regulars who hang out there: a cave cricket, moth flies, darkling beetles and a large wall spider. This evening I noticed someone new. It took me a while to register that there was someone there watching as the interloper did not move much.
I took at closer look and the little eight-legged fellow that peered back at me simply blew me away. Right there in from of my eyes was one of the most elusive and remarkable spiders in the world.
Everyone will be familiar with the typical spiders that construct webs and trap prey in them. This particular spider does things a little differently. This spider is commonly known as the Net-casting spider. Unlike most spiders who are simply content to sit and wait in their webs for some hapless bug to fly into it, these amazing spiders take the web strategy a step further. They weave a flexible net-liked web which they hold with the front legs. They do this dangling from a twig or some other promising perch. They support themselves using a scaffold of taut non-sticky silk that they lay down first. You can just see the lines of this scaffold in the corners in some of the pictures.
Enjoy the pictures of the Net-casting spider and I hope that you will be as amazed as I was…
When an insect wanders by, the Net-casting spider then throws the net over the prey! Truly, truly one of the most amazing spiders on the planet.
Tags: Deinopidae, dino j. martins, Kenya, net-casting spider, spider, spiderweb
Ants in the dust…
Category: Ants, Culture, Ecology | Date: Oct 13 2009 | By: dududiaries
Ants in the dust…
The drought continues here on the plains. Today at midday I stopped by the harvester ant nest to check on how they were doing. While most of the other animals were resting almost comatose in the shade due to the burning heat, the ants were hard at work.
They were working hard at scrounging whatever they could find out on the parched, overgrazed grassland. The harvester ants typically feed on the seeds of grasses. They diligently collect these from the surrounding areas and carefully carry them back to their nest. However, at the moment there is hardly any grass around, let along grass seeds, as everything has been nibbled away by the voracious mouths of cattle. Despite their desperate attempts to graze, the cattle are still dying in large numbers.
The ants were still trying to find food out in the midday sun nonetheless. I watched them bringing back all manner of things to their nest. In these tough times beggars can’t be choosers. Here is schematic sketch of their nest in the dust…
They brought back tiny dried bits of grass, no more than mere wisps of dessicated leaves. A few lucky ants had found the odd large seed or tiny pod from one of the many herbs that grow hidden in clefts among the rocks where mouths and hooves can’t reach them. Some managed to find the odd wisp of grass seed that was tucked away in a rocky crack out of reach to hungry cows…
A few lucky ants even managed to catch the odd item of prey – though these were mainly hapless bugs who themselves had succumbed to the heat and drought.
After just a few minutes of watching them I was so hot and starting to feel dizzy from the glare. I walked away from the nest seeking scant shade and wondering how life just keeps on going even in the face of such adversity. I hope that we get some rain soon!
More from the wonderful world of bugs soon.
Tags: BBC Digital Planet, cattle, dino j. martins, drought, harvester ants, Messor
Primeval bugs…
Category: Beetles, Culture, Ecology, Flies | Date: Oct 08 2009 | By: dududiaries
Hello - many thanks to Dana and Uwe for the kind comments.Here are a couple of insects from one of the most amazing habitats in East Africa - the alkaline lakes in the Rift Valley. These lakes are fed by volcanic activity and steamy, alkaline pools that support large flocks of flamingoes. But it is not only flamingoes that these lakes support. If you look closely at the edges of the water where a salty crust has formed, you will see lots of insects running about. They need to keep moving as it is so hot and alkaline they constantly need to avoid either being cooked or dessicated. The brine flies breed on decaying matter at the edges and the tiger beetles, are aptly-named, the little ‘tigers’ who are the major predators of the water’s edge. It was interesting to see the female tiger beetles have to hunt as they carry the males around on their backs. The males are mate guarding - preventing the female from being hijacked by another male. They do this by holding on to her with their sharp mandibles!More from the world of bugs soon…
Tags: , brine fly, dino j. martins, lake bogoria, lake nakuru, tiger beetle
More butterfly eyes!
Category: Butterflies, Culture, Ecology | Date: Oct 06 2009 | By: dududiaries
Dear AllSorry for not posting more - have been travelling - lots to share, just working on getting it all sorted. In the mean time here are some more close-ups of butterfly eyes - enjoy - the Emperor Butterflies below are particularly striking! The first one is a close-up of the Green-Veined Emperor, and the second is of a Black-and-White Charaxes. These are both fast-flying denizens that sweep through the forest canopy at high speeds and rarely venture down close to us mere mortals unless drawn by the scent of some rotting fruit or something even more appetizing like carrion!
Tags: Butterflies, charaxes, Dino Martins, eyes, lepidoptera, proboscis
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