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Are people really that daft that they dont know the difference between a wasp and a bee even my granddaughter at three knows that

I was with my dad and a wasp or it was big enough to be a hornet, was on the garden wall and it was at least 3 inches long!!

that will be a hornet

the funniest way to tell the difference is to make it sting you if it stings more than once it is a wasp if it stings and stays in you it is a bee! :)

Alan, have a look at the kleptoparasitic solitary bees, and tell us how easy they are to differentiate from wasps then. Not all bees are bumblebees!

rimo its really not that difficult at all

. At 20:10 6th Jun 2011, Alan wrote:
Are people really that daft that they dont know the difference between a wasp and a bee even my granddaughter at three knows that


A bit uncalled for, Alan. These forums are for everyone to ask questions whether you consider them daft or not, and shouldn't be made out to be stupid. You might not have meant to be unkind, but sometimes a little bit of consideration of others' feelings can make forums a much nicer place.

The wasps in my garden have stripped the wood from the shed door, after i painted it they left fine stripes all down the door, you could hear them actually scraping the wood.

I have sparrows born in my eaves who are eating from fat balls hanging on my feeder table, is this unusual as I thought they are ground feeders

In April two great tits were going in and out of my nest box and now there no where to be seen what were they doing then are where could they be now????

it would appear i have caused offence but my posting no harm was intended i just assumed that like me and my children and grandchildren that people would have know about bees wasps hornets and hover flies from an early age sorry for any offence if it was taken the wrong way

Thanks for this post, recently we have had wasps come to one particular fence post in our garden to strip the wood. It's fascinating. Sometimes there's three workers on the same post at a time! The nibbling noises are so loud we thought at first it was a mouse trapped in our shed! They come every day now. I've got it on video and posted to YouTube. I've never been a big fan of wasps, but I have a new respect for them now. They deserve as much interest and praise as other creatures receive.

I had a few bees crawling into holes in my concrete fence posts. After a few days or so, they sealed up the holes with a muddy mix which has dried solid. There is another hole that looks like it's got an old cocoon case in. What were/are they doing?

It is very dangerous to advise someone to let a bee or wasp sting them. That person could be allergic to the sting and be very ill.

Do owl chicks regurgitate pelets like there perents

Has anyone yet solved the mysteries around those Great Spotted woodpeckers stealing young from nesting boxes. I've been a birdwatcher for over 50 years and this is the first year I have heard of it.

this may seem silly but how do i ask the hosts questions i can't find anywhere to put one

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Hi, On a completely different topic, I have just seen in my nestbox ( it has a camera on it ) an adult great tit feeding her one surviving chick the dead chicks in the nest!!! Quite distressing to watch. Is this normal? She had 7 chicks hatch but only one survives. Thanks for any ideas
Judith

Chris seems to be the snake expert - can he tell us how to tell the difference between the sexes of Grass Snakes? Here's a photo I took in April of one at a local pond - I managed to get within a couple of feet of him/her. Which is it, Chris?

I have always love Springwatch and Autumnwatch but of late the programme is mostly about birds, birds and more birds, where are the, stoats, weasels, otters, beavers, deer, foxes etc etc etc. I know Kate Humble is the President of the RSPB and spring is all about the "birds and the bees" but it really would be nice to see a variety of different species in the programme.

Just found out last night from watching Springwatch that the strange bird call I heard close to my house in Antrim, Northern Ireland was a Grasshopper Warbler, Thanks guys!

Do you expect the adult Fried Pie Catcher to remove the dead chicks like it does with the fickle sacks

Can anyone explain the reason for the massive influx of Red Kite to Cornwall last Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Some 70+ Red Kites were seen on Saturday alone. The wind direction was South Westerley. Any ideas PLEASE ?
Thanks for your fabulous programme, Sue

i want to know type of butterfly i saw it is red and white and small and very pretty

hi could you tell me how many times a sparrow mates a year and how soon afther there first lot of young please

can anyone give me some advice please
i bought a bumble bee house about 3 years ago, placed it in the undergrowth and put an old mouse nest in it and honey water in the spring to try and tempt a queen bee i have also grown wild flowers that bees frequent but i have not had a bee use it. what if anything am i doing wrong??

Last week Martin was talking about the Bee Fly and I was wondering if anyone can help figure out what I've seen. At my Gran's house I kept seeing what looked like a small bumble bee but totally black in colour hovering on a rhodedendron. I only saw it on this plant and its movement was really quick. It also had pollen sacks on its legs. It looked a bit similar to the Bee fly but definitely wasn't one and I can't find it on the identification chart on the Bumblebee conservation trust website. Can anyone tell me what it was? Sadly I didn't catch it on camera.

Hi, I put food out for the birds during the winter, sultanas, seeds of different sorts, and peanuts which are enclosed in small mesh cages, but all equipment is thoroughly cleaned before each refill.
As the weather improves during the spring, I reduce the feeding until by the begining of the nesting season I stop the feeding, giving parent birds the chance to feed their babies with the food nature intended. The worse food to put out on bird tables is whole peanuts, parent birds have been known to take them to feed to their babies, the peanuts then can get lodged in the babies throats and suffocate them. I feel this warning should be put out each spring, so good intentions dont end in tradgedy.

Hi, I live on very very marshy land in Kent. It is quite remote and has lots and lots of reeds and reed beds. At the end of the garden, there is a nest in the reeds which contains the noisiest bird I have ever heard (including the wren)!! I hardly ever see it, only darting into the reeds, but I think it's between the size of a wren and a blue tit, quite brown with a shortish tail. It sings from about 8 in the morning, constantly, until dusk with a very fast up and down repetetive tune that has whistles and brrs too... I've looked and listened on the RSPB site and I think it could be a Reed warbler. However, it also sounds so much like a Marsh warbler and as they are so rare, that I thought I'd see if anyone could tell me how to differentiate between them or knows which one is which????
Much appreciated

I was wondering of anyone can help. My sister lives in watford and has spooted a number of beautiful colored parakeets. could they of been realased or something else? its very unusual to see them.

Hi,
I have noticed over the past couple of years that male blackbirds, especially during springtime, seem to purposfully dive under moving cars. I'm often driving through small towns or villages and have regularly noticed the birds launching themselves off roadside walls or hedges and flying under the front of my passing car. Just wondered if anyone else has seen this kind of behaviour too. It isn't just blackbirds- many other garden species do this too. Is it a kind of display during the breeding season or is it simply that they are startled and fly down under passing cars when taking off?

Hi Martin and team loving Springwatch as usual, I wonder if you can help answer a question for me, half an hour ago in my garden just after I had filled up my bird feeders, all the birds were there as usual when out of the blue a Jackdaw took a sparrow, the sparrow was making a dreadful noise but none of the other birds responded, we do have Sparrowhawks here and all the birds flee for cover, but they just carried on while the Jackdaw attacked and took the bird into a tree, this to my knowledge has not happened before, I have been feeding them for years, now it has happened once do you think it will happen again? I would appreciate your thoughts best wishes Jacky

we have bird box in our graden and no birds is in the bird box
nesting why is that?

Jason wilkes

I would like springwatch to do a feature on swifts. every year they return to nest in my home and it's wonderful to watch them soaring through the sky. As they don't land, the nearest i get to a close up of them is when they fly into their nest at break neck speed. would love chris to tell us more about them.

This year I have monitored Pied Flycatcher nests a few miles from Ynyshir. In over 50% of nests that hatched/fledged there were one or more unhatched eggs left in each nest.
Is this unusual and could it be related to Pied Flycatcher polygamy?

Hello everyone. It is so lovely that the Ospreys have chosen to breed in Wales. Could you please tell me why the Ospreys come to the U.K to breed, surely it must warmer and drier in Africa. So what makes them travel so far on what surely must be a dangerous journey.
Many thanks
Hilary Keats

Hello everyone. It is wonderful that the Ospreys have started to breed in Wales. Could you please tell me why they choose to come to the U.K to breed. It must be warmer and drier in Africa, so why do they choose to make what must be a dangerous journey to breed here?

We would like to know why, over the last few months, we have heard owls hooting during the day. They are commonly heard at night but we've never heard them in the daytime before.

Great Tits were feeding young in a box close to my window. Noise of youngsters getting louder so expecting departure soon. Saw adult bird on bird feeder which had some old peanuts from last year but I did not see it then return to feed its young. Suddenly all activity stopped and next day I found 6 dead almost fully fledged birds inside. No sign of adults since. Never in many many years have I had a similar outcome. Usually they use another box far down the garden which is now occupied by bumble-bees. A sad mystery. Any ideas of the cause ? [Googling gives me a whole list of possible diseases for garden birds.]

we got bird box in our greden we have no
birds in the box nest

why is that?
Jason wilkes

Hi, need some advice on bees, please. We have found some bumblebees (I think) "nesting" in a small bird house (6"x6"), which is screwed to a fence. This fence is rotten and needs replacing. Is there a safe way (safe for us and the bees) to move them? I've heard so much about bees this series and would love to keep them in the garden. Is there a safe way to resite the home they've adopted?

Hi Martin.Chris and Kate I appear to have a small colony of Leaf Cutter Bees who have taken up residence in pots of cactus in my greenhouse.They appear to be burrowing into the pots from both the top and bottom of the pot,Is this normal and if so should I leave well alone?

Yesterday you were talking about breeding problems when feeding birds. My husband says that breacrumbs should not be given to birds in breeding time because chicks need proteins and cannot digest bread. Could this knowledge help? I would also like to know if any research on the effect of genetically modified peanuts on birds has been made, as I suspects that a lot of the peanuts we give to the birds come from this sort of cultivation. I know that the soil becomes sterile... what about the birds?
And now appreciations for the programme: a lot to learn, to watch and a lot of fun! I come from Venice: herring gulls, sparrows, pigeons, and that's about it unless you go out on the lagoon... Well done to you all!

I appear to have a small colony of leaf cutter bees nesting in pots of cactus in my greenhouse.They are entering the pots from both the top and bottom of the pot.Is this normal and if so do I leave well alone

Hello everyone. It is wonderful to see the Ospreys breeding in Wales. Please could you tell me why they came to the U.K? The weather in Africa must be a lot better than ours so why do they make the very long and I am sure, dangerous journey.
Many thanks
Hilary Keats

Bumblebees frequently nest in our garden - and we've figured out it may have something to do with the seasonal appearance of field mice. The mice seem to
arrive in the autumn and stay until early spring. I know they must leave around then, because they stop digging up my tulip bulbs and going into the greenhouse to eat sunflower and pea seedlings and are no longer to be seen taking food from the bird table. Cats also come into the garden in warmer weather. This probably suits the bumblebees. I don't know a lot about this relationship between bees and mice and would be interested to hear what you know....

Over the last week or so we have had a blue tit in our garden that appears very friendly. It follows us around the garden and sometimes lands on us. When we go in it sits on the kitchen window sill for a while. Also, it often waits on the fence by the back door where we usually go in and out of the garden from. I think it is an immature bird and seems to be seeking for us to feed it. Sweet as it is, we obviously try to discourage it from becoming too freindly with humans and certainly don't feed it. It must be fending for itself OK as it appears very healthy and flies very well. There used to be two of them but a suspicious pile of blue tit feathers on the lawn tends to suggest one of them was taken by a predator. Although we have buzzards and sparrow hawks in the area it is rare to see them any where near the garden. We do have lot of rooks and magpies however. My first question is, could the blue tit have been taken by a rook or magpie and secondly is this type of friendly blue tit behaviour common?

Regards

Chris Sweeney from Cadnam on the edge of the New Forest

Hi
I live in Epping in Essex and I was walking in the forest last week and saw what I thought was a rather large pure white weasel or stoat is this normal or was it some other animal

Hi,
I saw a sparrow hawk in my garden take out a starling, it was struggling to kill it so it hopped across the lawn with its prey towards my pond. The sparrow hawk jumped in and after flapping around a bit shocked it appeared to be holding the Starling under to drown it!
I thought the sparrow hawk would become waterlogged after so long so I went out to see if could help and to stop my bodercollie from trying to eat it! But it flew up out of the water with ease

i wonder if any of your experts could identify this insect for me , i took the picture in my back garden

we had a blue tit and 4 chicks but they have all fledged now and the other 4 dead chicks are still
in the nest box with all the twigs and feathers and that. what should we do with the nest box ? or should we clear it out? eve .

I'm pretty sure that the sound is a magpie

I understood that an embryo formed on a yolk, and was not part of it. Therefore to have two chicks you would need two embryos not two yolks.

This year we have got 6 nests of sparrows, the chicks flew the nest 2 weeks ago, the numbers of nests and chicks have raised, there were 4 chicks in 2 nests and 5 in the other 4. They sound to have more chicks again, is it possible they would have laid more eggs when they still had the 1st chicks in the nests. We have also had an increase in the frogs, toads, and newts. We have also got a thrush nest and blackbird nest. Chris will be pleased because we have also got loads of slow worms this year.

Watching the birds feeding in the garden I saw crow try to take a live fledgling blackbird, is this normal?

once the blue tits leave the nest box in my garden - do i clean the box out or leave it for next year?

Please can you tell me if it is rare to have tree bees building a nest in a old bird box as i have them in my garden lovely to watch valerie

two unrelated questions for the team;
1] can you tell us something about the digestive systems of owls etc that allow them to swallow and digest rodents whole?
2] many years ago in Switzerland, I heard a very interesting lecture relating to the disturbing effect of motorway traffic on bird behaviour. In particular, the researcher found that more lepidoptera larvae were found close to motorways than further away [motorway running through a forest, e.g.]. He concluded that such larvae were less predated because there were less birds near a motorway.
do you know about this work?

My sister ( does'nt have a computer) but was telling me she has crows in the garden , and they were dragging a squirrel away, she would also like to know how to get little birds into the garden instead of crows . she lives in Barnet/cockfosters area .
from gabbyann

I work out doors handling fish all day. Throughout the summer wasps come down to the buckets of dead fish and chew small balls of fish meat off to take back to the nest. Very often they land on my hands which are covered in fish oil and try to chew "fish" off my hands. It is fascinating to watch and where before I was nervous of wasps, I now love them! In ten years of watching this behaviour I have only been stung twice and both times the fault was mine - I didn't see the wasp and accidentally squeezed it.
My main question was - I have a small garden but try to encourage wildlife by having a pond, overgrown area and plenty of bushes and cover for birds. Unfortunately the neighbourhood cats have now discovered my bird table and are taking the birds. How can I stop this from happening. I did have a half grown wild rabbit lodging in the garden but it has disappeared too - possibly the cats again. Any advice would be much appreciated by me and the birds!

I am now totally confused about feeding - should I, shouldn't I. I buy large amounts of ground feed, table feed, peanuts, worms and fat balls. Living next to woodland and farmland I have now attracted vast amounts of ravens, crows and jackdaws. In the morning it is like Hitchcocks film 'Birds'. None of my neighbours has said anything yet but all the birds are sitting on top of their tv arials and roofs waiting for me to feed them. I thought that once you started to feed birds they come to rely on that feed so I am worried about stopping. Other birds that come to feed are blackbirds, sparrows, a variety of tits and finches, woodpigeons and ring necked doves, starlings, buntings - and more. There is a woodpigeon and an ordinary pigeon who are totally in love and sit and kiss, is this unusual.

Dave A 56 Yes.

I have an unusual poo found on a high roof in south east London see my photos on flicker. Help can anyone tell me what animal left this? Its high up on a town house roof with no access for a 4 legged animal, could it be some type of bird, I think to solid for a bird. How can I put a picture here?

Hello Springwatch
My Treat of the Week
This morning as I was about to leave for work to Blue tits alighted on my Bird feeder. At first I thought nothing much about it, 2 Blue tits both the same size, looked identical but what followed was, to me, amazing. One of the birds flitted to the nut feeder, pecked a few times and then flitted back to where the other tit was waiting. Then much to my surprise the waiting beak opened and was fed by what I now knew was the parent. This happened a few times before the youngster joined the adult pecking away at the nuts and even though the youngster was feeding itself the parent was also feeding it. Is this a case of baby training?

A Question for IT bods on Springwatch.
I make no apologies for being uneducated as far as identifying birds are concerned. I have a large number of "Brown" birds come to my garden and surely they cannot be all Sparrows? I have tried many websites to help me identify what I see with some moderate success but is there any software out there that I can use to help me for example compare my photos with a datbase or am I being too CSI?

I found something hanging in the tree today which i beleive to be a bees nest, im not sure though??? I have uploaded a fews pictures for you. Please can you confirm what it is. regards Jasper

Re rubbish dumps - how do seagulls find a tractor ploughing even when nowhere near the coast or landfill sites?

Dear Springwatch Team,

This year My Dad and Myself put up a birdbox on the side of our Semi-Detached house in Weston-Super-Mare. About 2 Months ago we spotted 2 Blue Tits gathering materials for a nest in the box, in the first 2 weeks they were happily going in and out of the box every 20 mins or so. Then at about 4-5 weeks they suddenly just disapeared, i decided to set up my video camera to make sure they were not going into the box when they was nobody about, however there were still no sightings. After this conclusion my Dad went up the ladder and looked inside and there was a nicely established nest. This Puzzled Us..

Why Have they Just decided to leave this nest?
Could we have done something to disrupt them into leaving the nest?
And Where else could we put it next year?

We have a 15 ft tree in the front garden.
The front garden is used less by the family.

We have 9 or 10 adult pigeons which have nests nearby frequenting our garden but you never see fledglings with them. Why is this?

Regard the Pitsea waste site. In the local area we are shortly to start recycling
waste food. Sureley this will have an effect on the wildlife on the tip?

Chris P 66 Dunnocks?

jasper 67 I couldn't find your photos, but then I can't find mine any more. What you saw could be a swarm as it is about that time of year for them. 'A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon.' If it is/was it will go look for a suitable place to make a home. A beekeeper will collect it to put in an empty hive.

I know this is not strictly a nature question, but it intrigues me. My neighbour has recently cut large branches of an elderberry tree. All th cats in the neighbourhood come round from time to time and lick the stump. Why?

During early springtime we had mystery. We could hear a bird song which ended with what sounded like a frog croaking. It only lasted about 5 weeks and happened last year as well. We live on the edge of Bishopstoke Wood in Hampshire but the sound was coming from some other trees nearer our home. (Not in the wood itself). Please help before next year comes and we're left puzzled once again! Love to all! ps...more Itchy & Scratchy please....

Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)

HI Guys I wanted to know if you would be interested in me filming my bird table. (Also for Chris plus black fluffy dog who keeps the cats out of the garden).Everyday I have a huge volume of Sparrows, Starlings , Jackdaws, a couple of Magpies, Then some stragglers, Blackbird or 2 and Blue and Great Tit. They seem to have a pecking order. No pun intended. The noise as the Starlings feed is unreal and they don't seem to worry about how many they can fit on the table at once.They are always entertaining once the fledglings are out and about. Once an adult landed on the lawn and 6 juveniles all begging for food landed around her. 2 kids drive me crazy. I know time is running out ,but I could probably get it you for Wednesday. Starlings get a hard time because they are noisy and make a mess, but they have a real sense of family.Even long after fledging. The Sparrows who live under the eaves just seem to go along with the madness. I was interested in the lady who said a juvenile Starling had got tangled in the mesh around a fat ball. Why don't people take it off. It is lethal. Most 99p shops sell fat ball feeders now, so please buy one and take off your mesh roll it up and knot it. Then in landfills it is safer.Maybe us Springwatchers should start a campaign to ban the mesh. I really hate the stuff. Sorry.
Also Matrin was showing us the toadlets ,but were they. They looked like froglets to me. If you looked carefully you could see the stripes forming on their backs like Common Frogs.We have a huge concentration of them in our local canal their must be hundreds and they have stuck together right from Tads.About 11 years ago 5am ish, I can remember taking my old dog for a walk down there and I was scared to move there were little tiny frogs everywhere, but it has never been like it since.
Also the Hedghog project. I feel a bit guilty about this as my girls have bunnies and we have rabbit proofed the garden. I always used to get them, but sadly no longer. How I can I let them in and out without letting out the rabbits. And are the rabbits at risk of aerial attack from Buzzards. Does anyone know if a pet bunny has ever been taken? I know of a Buzzard trying to take a cat locally that was fast asleep when pounced on, but the bird had to let go it was too big. I love Buzzards they are amazing, but I don't want the bunnies eaten. Mind you they are big Rabbits.
Any feedback gratefully accepted.

WARNING!!! NEVER USE THIS KIND OF FAT BALL FEEDER!!!
One of my fledgling bluetits obviously squeezed his way inside the fat ball feeder to get to the crumbs left at the bottom, then tried to get out from the bottom of the feeder where the bars narrow. Without the sense to exit up where he entered the poor creature strangled itself to death.

Please, if you have this kind of feeder TAKE IT DOWN NOW. This all happened within minutes – I’d just replenished the seed feeder and had only gone back to the shed to get more fat balls and table top feed. By the time I came back it was too late. I’m devastated, so upset.

Sorry, I have to paste the image of the feeder so you’ll be warned of its type, and I didn’t have the sense to take the body out before photographing, and I’ve already thrown the whole thing into the bottom of a dumpy bin (I can’t reach down to get it out).

WHO DUNNIT?
I was renovating an old window frame last weekend and before I could paint it I find that a bird's been helping itself to the wet putty. What type of bird is likely to have done this? And what is it being used for - food or nesting material?

could anyone recommend a good pair of Binoculars for birdwatching and general wildlife, my budget is between £150 and £200

Hi
just wanted to add we have a fat ball feeder which is a totally different design, just like a peanut feeder but with huge holes and no birds could get stuck in that, check out your local pet store for alternative designs

Hi team springwatch. guess what my naughty cat brought me home?. no cannot guess well i'll tell you.I't was a nice hot day beautiful sunshine just right for relaxing and enjoying wildlife at it's best so imagine the shock i recieved when flying from the right of me came a cat flinging something up in the air haveing great fun, not funny for me when i came to the realiseation he was flinging a beautiful weasel, now at this point there would be no point in panicking althou my heart was raceing i had to take a deep breath and wait for him to drop it and lose his concentration for a second, it felt like for ever but finally a magpie put him off by suddenly sounding an alert you could almost here him saying cat alert cat alert. Anyhow back to the weasel, obviously in shock but very much alive playing dead thou i whisked him up not thinking of my own safety i rushed him in checked him for wounds the best i could, i then put him in a modefide cage with warm water, then put him on the shelf between my snake pits as it has a constant tempreture nice and warm for the shock. Later in the day after several hours of waiting he became very much alive and wanting freedom so we walked into the nature reserve to let him or her go, mind you i could not see throu the lid bere this in mind. My kids and husband came with me to witness the event, we found the perfect location around the lake far enough from puddy cats, with lots of prickly bushes and wooded areas, i set the cage down slowly removed the lid bit by bit half way still nothing and i still could not see, Then the rest of the way the last bit of the lid and pop goes the weasel straight at me with a noise that resembled a mad dog barking, he lept and lept as i stepped backwards avoiding his little nashing teeth fineally he pulled himself together and walked into the bush stopped and looked back at me just for a second then left as if to say thanks but come after me and i will eat you. Thats appreciation for you, Would i do it again, absolutely. I love nature. Oh by the way that magpie he is my best alli he follows the cat when he spots him and lets me know when the cats in the garden and also lets every body in a hundred mile radious know the cats on the hunt even at six in the morning he even followed us and the cat up the shop one day the cat waits in the bush for us by the shops to come out then follows us home and the magpie sat on the roof warning all others the cat was about, it was so funny so maybe magpies just save songbirds as well as eating some of there young at least the parents get to live to breed another day. I am so happy the great spotted woodpecker brought her young to us this year and fed them on our insect and fruit suet cake it was a beautiful sight and we also had a marsh frog apeer on our back door,the dragon flies are around the pond and life is buzzing.Feather collecting has started again and nature is calling us all, get out there and enjoy nature at its best. Team all i can say is you are doing a wonderful job and i wish you were on all year round. Please could you find out what to do with a cat that always removes his collers no matter how hi tec and let me know what to do he's driving us all mad.thankyou and bless you all.

One thing i forgot to say to chris i love science geek and itchy and scratchy more more. kate please more info on where is best place to hang bird boxes in garden like shade height and do i need to put moss in.and good job to you i bet that water was nice and refreshing i love the water we have a ford near by full of fish and alsorts of fresh water crustations love getting in kids do to would love to show you our secret world of nature here in charvil reading berks we also have a heronery over the lakes and last year we for the first time had oyster catchers nesting and lapwings on the same island.come team come see if you got the time of corse my family will give you the grand tour.

Alan 1 Yes, they are.

Alan 1 Yes, they are.

If it works, does anybody know what this is?

We have lots of bird feeders in our garden and during April & May had a whole range of birds and their fledglings visiting (I'm pleased to say this included quite a large flock of sparrows). I had to refill the feeders almost on a daily basis. Suddenly the birds seem to have vanished - it's as if the kids have all left home so the grown-ups have gone off on a nice long holiday! Why is this? Ditto bees. We have lots of lavender and flowers that they like and having seen a huge variety in the Spring, we've seen only a handful during the last couple of weeks. Why has the wildlife deserted us!?

I saw in my garden this morning two completely black bees (no stripes). They were the size and shape of a bumble bee - are these a strain of bumble bee I have not noticed before? Any ideas please?

Hi Springwatch Team!
How do Blackbirds detect where Worms or Invertebrates are in the soil? Is it by sound, touch or sight? After spells of heavy rain my garden is now soft enough for the blackbirds to scavenge, so how do they do it?
Any Idea's?

is it possible to have vegitarian birds of prey... buzzards do sometimes get the greens into the nest

Earlier in the spring I came across some folded leaves of what I beleive to be the Lords and Kadies, arum maculatum,which had been broken off from the main plant and left some way from the plant. There were quite a few of these "cigars". Can any onetell me what or who was attacking the plants and leaving the evidence around. I have a photo of the rolled leaves.

When that jay attacked the wren nest, why did it go in through the back of the nest and not just go in through the entrance hole? Surley that would have easier, and it would have cut off the chicks escape so it could have got more? (Not that I want to see lots of chicks getting eaten!!).

This years I have been watching two seperate Blackbird nests but both nests have lost their chicks,one lot was two days old and the other was about seven/eight days old All chicks were found on the ground under or near the nests.The youngest chicks had been pecked Why would this happen to these beautiful birds?

Why did ther bee orchid evolve to imitate a bee, if it does not actually need a bee for polination

Dear Chris
I've just seen your film on orchids. I'm confused about the bee orchid
How does it know how the beck of a bee looks, because it can't see it
Cymruambyth (ask Iolo to know what my name means)

We have Bee orchids on a road side verge by J 35 M6. Is this unusual ?

All this user's posts have been removed.Why?

We had a number of blue tit nest box's this year that have been attacked by lesser spotted woodpeckers - they started to enlarge the nest hole to get at the young and in one case created a new hole on the side to get at the young blue tits - is this normal or is it rest a couple of very aggressive local birds doing this ?

Could you please tell me the name of the little bird in the foreground of the below photo? I can't find it in my bird book.



There are always a couple in the garden feeding so I assume they are nesting nearby.

Hi,

I have a question and I do apologise if it is off topic....

My 2 Year old has just discovered the exciting world of bugs/insects and pulls up every stone he possibly can and catches what ever he can. Is there anything that could harm him that i should be more aware of (other than the obvious bees and wasps)?

Thank you xxxxx

Dear Springwatch
Love your programme!
Can you help me identify a bee which has built a nest in grass. It began about a 6 weeks ago, the occupant of a small tuft would make angry buzzing if touched - one day when we were carefully investigating the bee flew straight back to nest
which is now the size of a small birds nest.
What will happen next? When will we be able to cut the grass?! Is it a Mason Bee?
Thanks for help.

Why are we seeing more and more bees that cannot fly? I must have seen over 10 in the last week alone, and I have one regular, who I call Mr Walk, who walks to my garden for daily feeding - I lift him ip on to my flowers