Imogen's photos

Honey Bee, Apis Mellifera enjoying the blue ageratum flowers. The bee has a lot of pollen all over the body. At some stage in the foraging process the bee will stop to wipe all the pollen up and stack it into special sacs on the hind legs. The pollen is taken back to the hive, for food.

Honeybee, clambering around in search of nectar in gaura flower.

A honeybee, apis mellifera, enjoying the profusion of flowers in Summer.

Australian native bee, Amegilla or Blue Banded Bee coming in to land on Salvia inflorescence. This bright blue flower is the most attractive to native bees. For some reason this salvia has grown twice as high this summer standing over two metres tall - the bees love it as it is in their direct line of flight.

Devil's Stinkhorn fungus, Lysurus mokusin, 70mm tall (3 inches), suburban garden, Australia. Belonging to an interesting family of fungi that appear overnight out of the soil, live and die within a day or so. They hatch out of egg like structures below or at soil level and the spores are contained in a slime substance on the lantern tip. The slime exudes a strong smell hence the common name Stinkhorn. Flies and other insects are attracted to the smell and help disperse the spores. Lysurus mokusin is non-toxic and some say it is edible!

A honey bee hovering at the entry to an Azalea flower. What is interesting is one can see the outline of the right-side wing quite clearly at the same time as the high speed blur of the wing motion. Also this female bee has clearly just begun her pollen gathering as there is not a lot of pollen stored in the leg sac which can be seen as a yellow blob on her hind leg.

This honey bee was as impressed with the pink asters as I was. I watched it travel from flower to flower for a long time, it seemed intent on visiting as many flowers as possible. Such tireless work bees do!

Two bees in Gallica Rose. Strolling through the garden at dusk I saw these two bees who were motionless and appeared to be resting or sleeping. Bees usually return to the hive each afternoon after their daily work is done. It is lovely to imagine these two bees spent the night in this glorious perfumed rose.

Assassin Fly or Robber Fly, Ommatius sp., on Perennial Basil plant. Named thus because it catches and eats other insects, flies, bees, wasps. It catches the prey in mid-air usually.

The season of Spring is forever associated in my mind with Tulips. No other flower evokes the feeling of renewal and new possibilities in life as Tulips do. This picture is dedicated to the memory of Cassi.

This morning I went out to see if the Leafcutter bee I had spotted last night was around. There were not one but two Leafcutter bees buzzing around this blue Salvia. It is a popular plant with my bees as I counted 5 types of bees on the Salvia at the same time. Honeybee, Leafcutter Bee, Blue Banded native bee, tiny Stingless native bee and a brief visit from a Teddy Bear Bee. I am thrilled to see this Leafcutter bee, Megachile sp., which has eluded me till now. More pictures of it to follow.

Leafcutter Bee, Megachile sp., length 12mm. This is the first sighting of this bee in my garden and I'm so excited. Excuse the low resolution picture as it was taken at night - I had gone outdoors to photograph something else when I spotted the bee. It happened so fast I didn't have time to adjust my camera but wanted to capture the bee before it flew off. This bee cuts neat circular pieces out of soft leaves, like rose leaves, to use in its nest. I've seen the holes in my roses' leaves but never the bee, until now.

Australian native bee, 5mm long, visiting flowering onion. Pollen can be seen stored on the bee's hind legs.

Early morning is my favourite time of day, when everything seems possible..

Dark and light bark Australian trees in conservation forest area, Sydney.

Australian tree Angophora Costata or Sydney Red Gum. The twisted or contorted branches are a feature of this tree when it grows in poor or thin soils (usual in Australia). Each year in Spring the bark peels off to reveal new pink bark underneath (see inset for bark texture and colour). Many Australian tree species shed their bark regularly which forms dense forest litter providing fuel for bush fires.