The bees are back

Currently, as we don't have rainy days, as I work in the back field, I'm seeing the return of bees and butterflies.

It's always such a joy to see these wonderful creatures hanging out in our garden and field.

Here is a sweat bee sipping nectar from a dandelion and enjoying the warmth of the sun.

Lupines attract bees.

I've been unsuccessful with lupines planted in the ground.

They do very well at first and bloom, but just last for one season and dry up.

However the lupines growing in large pots (native lupines, naturally) seem to thrive and bloom year after year.

One of our Blue Bush Lupines is blooming, and every morning is visited by Black-tailed Bumble Bees Bombus melanopygus.

We've been clearing out some of the field, since we have way-y-y too much fennel growing there.

Yes, we're talking about hundreds of fennel plants.

All that winter and spring rain was wonderful for our native seedlings and other plants, but it also hydrated all of the unwanted grass and fennel.

We have some clumps of tall grass pulled out, piled on top of each other as we work our way through part of the field.

One afternoon I noticed a bee constantly circling a pile of pulled grass.

After a while I got my camera to take these photos. This is a mining bee female.

I don't know why she specifically wanted to be in this area because we have other open and partly shaded areas in the field where she could dig out a hole for nesting.

Here is the same mining bee female hanging out where I was working in the field.