Bee boles and skeps

14 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by Brigid Jackson in Crafts, Garden Creatures, Gardens, Honey Bee, insects

Tags

Bee, Bee boles, Bee skep, Beehive, garden, history, home, honeybee, insect, Lost gardens of Heligan, Middle Ages, organic

A Peep into the world of Bee boles

These Bee-boles are part of a large wall with 15 vaulted chambers to house bees – the forerunner of modern beehives – bees were very important to gardens as they pollinated the plants and supplied honey and wax.

For centuries, beekeepers have used “skeps,” carefully designed domed baskets, to house their hives. Bees need a clean, dry place to make a home

Skeps, which are baskets placed open-end-down, have been used for about 2000 years. Initially they were made from wicker plastered with mud and dung but from the Middle Ages they were made of straw. In northern and western Europe, skeps were made of coils of grass or straw. In its simplest form, there is a single entrance at the bottom of the skep. Again, there is no internal structure provided for the bees and the colony must produce its own honeycomb, which is attached to the inside of the skep.

Lost Gardens of Heligan

How to make a Bee skep

The Giant’s Head (aristonorganic.com)
Insect Hotel (aristonorganic.com)
Flowers Garden (aristonorganic.com)

The fastest flying insect

13 Monday May 2013

Posted by Brigid Jackson in ecology, Garden Creatures, insects

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Dragonflies, Dragonfly, DragonflyMaturity, environment, Flora and Fauna, flying insects, garden, insect, nature, sign of happiness, symbolism

dragonfly Dragonflies are among the fastest flying insects in the world. I came across these two mating while in Ariston Elemental Organic Garden last week. It was amazing to see that they also fly when they are mating.

Flight speed

Tillyard claimed to have recorded the Southern Giant Darner flying at nearly 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) in a rough field measurement. However, the greatest reliable flight speed records are for other types of insects. In general, large dragonflies like the hawkers have a maximum speed of 10–15 metre per second (22–34 mph) with average cruising speed of about 4.5 metre per second (10 mph).

Dragonflies are important predators that eat mosquitoes, and other small insects like flies, bees, ants, wasps, and very rarely butterflies.

Though dragonflies are predators, they themselves are subject to predation by birds, lizards, frogs, spiders, fish, water bugs, and even other large dragonflies.

While googling Dragonflies I came across these symbolisms :

Symbolisms of the Dragonfly

Maturity and a Depth of character
Power and Poise
Defeat of Self Created Illusions
Focus on living ‘IN’ the moment
The opening of one’s eyes

To the Japanese, it symbolizes summer and autumn and am admired and respected all over, so much so that the Samurai use it as a symbol of power, agility and best of all, Victory.

In China, people associate the dragonfly with prosperity, harmony and as a good luck charm.
Amongst Native Americans, it is a sign of happiness, speed and purity. Purity because the dragonfly eats from the wind itself.