4.7.11

Flowers and bees...

Sorry... this is perhaps not a typical Paris subject, but at least the photos were taken in the Batignolles-Clichy Park, close to my home.

There were a lot of bees around and I wanted to get a nice photo of at least one. It seems today that insects have a better life in cities than on the countryside - less pesticides around and more and more of hives are being installed.

Basically I can put the name only on very few flowers – roses, tulips… -, so I’m quite proud that my Google research gave me the name of this one: Cynara Cardunculus (artichocke thistle, cardone, cardoni, carduni, cardi, cardon… - I hope I’m right). I found the flowers spectacular and there were bees around … , but they were always hiding, disappearing inside the big flower… Finally I almost got one, but it left rapidly and flew away.
(Surprising artichoke flower.)
So, to get my bee, I went to take some shots of some smaller neighbour flowers (not so sure about the name here, an Echinops Bannaticus, blue globe?) where the bees were much kinder and let me the time to take some photos, including the top one.
(I just use a compact Canon G11, so ...)

Addendum July 4th, afternoon:
I made some kind of research to find the names of the flowers (no comments or remarks so far), but the great mistake is obviously that at least the insect on the top and bottom pictures is not a bee, but a wasp. Abe suggested hornet, which obviously is some kind of wasp and Owen suggested yellowjacket. Thanks - you learn everyday! :-)

27 comments:

Pierre BOYER said...

Great captures !
Regards,

Pierre

Olivier said...

une belle histoire d'abeille, digne d'un episode de Maya ;)

Anonymous said...

Except most of the "bees" are actually wasps!

Anonymous said...

wonderful photos!

Genie -- Paris and Beyond said...

Your photos are superb, Peter! I am going to do a post on bees this week also. Where there are bees, you will find honey also!

Bises,
Genie

Thérèse said...

I love your explanations.
You certainly have already checked l'ile de la Jatte and the hives. I lost my glasses one day at the foot of one of the hives and the bees gave me a hard time...

Anonymous said...

Pour la première et la troisième photo ça nést pas une abeille, mais une guêpe.

Rakesh Vanamali said...

Awesome!

Been missing your posts of late. Feels wonderful to be back!

amatamari© said...

:-)
Wonderful!!!

Anonymous said...

I think these are hornets.

Do a google search for hornets and compare photos.

Anonymous said...

I think these are hornets.

Do a google search for hornets and compare photos.

Anonymous said...

I think these are hornets.

Do a google search for hornets and compare photos.

Parisbreakfasts said...

WOW!
What chic bees!!
They could only be FRENCH bees.

Simony said...

Gorgeous photos Peter!! Love them all.

Studio at the Farm said...

Great close-up shots, Peter.

Owen said...

Hi Peter... for a minute there I thought you must have gotten a new camera with a big macro lens for it... until you told us at the end... Well, your Canon does just fine. In the US this sort of small wasp is called a yellowjacket, and were considered less desirable than honeybees. They have a nasty sting too, once I was climbing up a ladder for a diving board at a swimming pool, and got stung on the thumb by one I'd put my hand on without seeing it... my thumb swelled up to twice its normal size... greetings from the far north !

Starman said...

Whatever they are, there certainly are a lot of them. We are in Paris, perhaps we could meet for a drink somewhere?

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Absolutely stunning photos ,, there are flowers all round Paris .. beautiful.

Cergie said...

Des bises... C'est pas très précis, je suis déçue, tu nous as habitués à plus de précision et de méticulosité.
Ce sont des Hyménoptères Apocrites

(I just use a compact Canon G11, so ...)
Tu voudrais avoir quoi comme APN alors ? Tes macros ne te satisfont pas ?
:)
Bees Peter

claude said...

Je sais faire la différence entre une guêpe et une abeille, bien que je ne les regarde pas trop souvent ni de trop près.
J'ai déjà été effrayée par des frelons (il y a eu un nid sous le toit de la maison). Il paraît que le bourdon est innofensif mais je les évite quand même.
Ma lavande est pleine de ces bestioles en ce moment. J'ai beaucoup de mal à la prendre en photo.
I l n'y a pas de honte à regarder un mariage princier, ça change des affgires glauques du moment.
Nous n'avions pas la télé en 56 mais je me rappelle bien des photos dans Match et Jour de France.

Cezar and Léia said...

LOL I have no idea about name of flowers and insects. The important thing to me it's enjoying the beauty of these pictures, thanks so much for sharing!
You are a fabulous photographer!
hugs
Léia

arabesque said...

these are some cool macro shots! ^0^
be it wasps, bees or whatnot, i'm just loving this post.
it's always nice to see flowers like these.

Virginia said...

WEll I leave it to our Abe and Owen. Your macro shots are wonderful. Thinks are buzzing in Paris, n'est -ce pas? :)
V

Unknown said...

Lovely post, Peter. The macro shot on top is fantastic!

joanna said...

Peter:

Intelligent creatures they are Wasps - Yellow Jackets, Bee's and other flying critters,
I think the first one hiding and flying off was having fun with you,, and getting his/her way.

joanny

richard said...

I'm confused now - I'd always thought that wasps were carnivorous and bees were vegetarian. Maybe the wasp just wants some veg with it's meat?

I'm pleased to say that the bees seem much more numerous around Zurich this year compared with previous ones. The quiet buzz of insects on a summer day is something that always feels good to me - when there is a silence it feels ominous. There have of course been numerous scares about the bee population recently. I think it was Einstein who observed that if the bees died out, mankind would only have about 10 years left. I think that was an exaggeration - there are other pollinators - but scary nonetheless.

Maya said...

Wow, beautiful close-ups Peter!