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Post by bigjohnritchie on Jun 22, 2020 19:36:32 GMT
when I was younger I used to see loads of caterpillars , all sorts , green ones, furry ones. I spend a lot of time in the garden nowadays but hardly see any. My eyesight isn't too bad.
Where have they gone?
Similarly butterflies, obviously and bees are on the decline. Insects are important to our ecology. How concerned should we be(e) ?
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Post by franklin66 on Jun 22, 2020 19:56:38 GMT
It's to do with pesticides imho, I did have a buddleia and it had dozens of butterflies every day when it flowered. I think sterile gardens reduce the amount of insects. I compensated for the lack of wild flowers and weeds in mine with insect friendly single flowers no doubles because they are useless for bees etc.
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Post by thehartshillbadger on Jun 22, 2020 19:59:19 GMT
I’ve got rucks of bees to the point of annoyance 🤣 Butterflies not so much but the odd one now and again. Caterpillars? A couple a year. I’ve got loads of those woolly aphids knocking around at the minute, bastards!
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Post by franklin66 on Jun 22, 2020 20:01:25 GMT
I’ve got rucks of bees to the point of annoyance 🤣 Butterflies not so much but the odd one now and again. Caterpillars? A couple a year. I’ve got loads of those woolly aphids knocking around at the minute, bastards! Me too soapy water in a spray bottle and let them have it does wonders on the buggers. I have a California lilac and the bees absolutely love it all day they are on it.
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Post by danceswithclams on Jun 22, 2020 20:03:07 GMT
when I was younger I used to see loads of caterpillars , all sorts , green ones, furry ones. I spend a lot of time in the garden nowadays but hardly see any. My eyesight isn't too bad. Where have they gone? Similarly butterflies, obviously and bees are on the decline. Insects are important to our ecology. How concerned should we be(e) ? I saw loads of the fuckers on the golf course today, mostly on the greens. Mind you, there was probably fewer of them after I'd finished due to my wayward putting.
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Post by bigjohnritchie on Jun 22, 2020 20:05:06 GMT
when I was younger I used to see loads of caterpillars , all sorts , green ones, furry ones. I spend a lot of time in the garden nowadays but hardly see any. My eyesight isn't too bad. Where have they gone? Similarly butterflies, obviously and bees are on the decline. Insects are important to our ecology. How concerned should we be(e) ? I saw loads of the fuckers on the golf course today, mostly on the greens. Mind you, there was probably fewer of them after I'd finished due to my wayward putting. Good to know
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2020 20:13:16 GMT
We've usually got loads of butterflies and bees in our garden - we've deliberately chosen lots of plants which attract them and which they can get nectar from.
The caterpillars aren't so much of a problem as we get lots of birds in the garden and they seem to spot any caterpillars that may be around. Our plants seem to be completely devoid of any of the tell tale holes in the leaves so the birds must be doing a good job.
All this recent rain has seen an increase in slugs though but the blackbirds are having a real banquet eating them.
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Post by Vadiation_Ribe on Jun 22, 2020 20:25:03 GMT
I've seen far less butterflies this year than in previous years (I'm used to seeing loads), but the buddleia hasn't flowered in the garden for some reason. Then again, I've seen less out and about. I carefully cleaned around a chrysalis on the front door a few months ago. A butterfly emerged from it a few days ago.
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Post by franklin66 on Jun 22, 2020 20:26:51 GMT
We've usually got loads of butterflies and bees in our garden - we've deliberately chosen lots of plants which attract them and which they can get nectar from. The caterpillars aren't so much of a problem as we get lots of birds in the garden and they seem to spot any caterpillars that may be around. Our plants seem to be completely devoid of any of the tell tale holes in the leaves so the birds must be doing a good job. All this recent rain has seen an increase in slugs though but the blackbirds are having a real banquet eating them. Have you ever watched a bee feeding on a Lupin the flowers are are an incredible evolutionary marvel on how they deposit pollen while it gets the nectar. An engineer would struggle to design one...
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2020 21:19:30 GMT
We've usually got loads of butterflies and bees in our garden - we've deliberately chosen lots of plants which attract them and which they can get nectar from. The caterpillars aren't so much of a problem as we get lots of birds in the garden and they seem to spot any caterpillars that may be around. Our plants seem to be completely devoid of any of the tell tale holes in the leaves so the birds must be doing a good job. All this recent rain has seen an increase in slugs though but the blackbirds are having a real banquet eating them. Have you ever watched a bee feeding on a Lupin the flowers are are an incredible evolutionary marvel on how they deposit pollen while it gets the nectar. An engineer would struggle to design one... Yes it's amazing. Nature is pretty wonderful isn't it.
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Post by murphthesurf on Jun 22, 2020 22:38:45 GMT
We've usually got loads of butterflies and bees in our garden - we've deliberately chosen lots of plants which attract them and which they can get nectar from. All this recent rain has seen an increase in slugs though but the blackbirds are having a real banquet eating them. Have you ever watched a bee feeding on a Lupin the flowers are are an incredible evolutionary marvel on how they deposit pollen while it gets the nectar. An engineer would struggle to design one... Right then, listen up, chaps, and for once I'm not muckin' about....... this is FACT: When we were at infants' school - yes - infants' school - (shut up, Fel) - we had these great reading books in class for English lessons, and they had really good, interesting and informative stories in them, and I've always remembered that one story was called 'Pockets in the Knees' and it was about bees collecting nectar/pollen from flowers and it said that they put the nectar/pollen in special little 'pockets' they have in their knees to carry it back to the hive. So now you know. ' Pockets in the Knees'. Another story was about Anna Pavlova, being on stage and seeing all the rich people in the audience and noticing how many furs and jewels the ladies wore, and how much the jewels all glittered, but I won't give any more details about that one as I know that when it comes to ballet most of you like to keep all the prancin' about you do in tutus and tights a private matter, and your secrets are safe with me. Well, mostly.
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Post by thehartshillbadger on Jun 22, 2020 22:43:34 GMT
Have you ever watched a bee feeding on a Lupin the flowers are are an incredible evolutionary marvel on how they deposit pollen while it gets the nectar. An engineer would struggle to design one... Right then, listen up, chaps, and for once I'm not muckin' about....... this is FACT: When we were at infants' school - yes - infants' school - (shut up, Fel) - we had these great reading books in class for English lessons, and they had really good, interesting and informative stories in them, and I've always remembered that one story was called 'Pockets in the Knees' and it was about bees collecting nectar/pollen from flowers and it said that they put the nectar/pollen in special little 'pockets' they have in their knees to carry it back to the hive. So now you know. ' Pockets in the Knees'. Another story was about Anna Pavlova, being on stage and seeing all the rich people in the audience and noticing how many furs and jewels the ladies wore, and how much the jewels all glittered, but I won't give any more details about that one as I know that when it comes to ballet most of you like to keep all the prancin' about you do in tutus and tights a private matter, and your secrets are safe with me. Well, mostly. Lovely stuff😉
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Post by murphthesurf on Jun 22, 2020 23:00:40 GMT
when I was younger I used to see loads of caterpillars , all sorts , green ones, furry ones. I spend a lot of time in the garden nowadays but hardly see any. My eyesight isn't too bad. Where have they gone? Similarly butterflies, obviously and bees are on the decline. Insects are important to our ecology. How concerned should we be(e) ? If it's caterpillars you want, BJ, grow nasturtiums - they like a fairly poor, dry soil. I always grow quite a lot of them, and they look fab for weeks/months - plus you can eat their leaves (a bit peppery, bit like watercress) - and then...... there are loads of little black dots which appear on the undersides of their leaves - and then...... the dots turn into tiny, weeny black caterpillara - and then...... they grow - and promptly eat all the leaves. They mustn't be able to digest the 'veins' of the leaves, though, because they leave all of those. I'm always happy to let all of this happen because I always reckon they'll end up as bird food. A few years ago I was trying to get some small surface weeds out of the top of a raised bed built from bricks, and tucked under one of the coping stones edging the bed was a neat little pile of dried nasturtium seeds, which had obviously formed on the plants and then fallen off after flowering and been carefully gathered and stashed away by a clever mouse, so the weeds came out and the nasturtium seeds were carefully replaced in the little hollow from which they'd tumbled out.
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Post by thequietman on Jun 23, 2020 11:51:44 GMT
when I was younger I used to see loads of caterpillars , all sorts , green ones, furry ones. I spend a lot of time in the garden nowadays but hardly see any. My eyesight isn't too bad. Where have they gone? Similarly butterflies, obviously and bees are on the decline. Insects are important to our ecology. How concerned should we be(e) ? Your eyesight isn't too bad, Big John? then how do you miss seeing these bu99ers? They scare the life out of me imagining what flying monster they're going to turn into.
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Post by Rednwhitenblue on Jun 23, 2020 12:02:51 GMT
Saw one of those 'woolly bear' caterpillars which you're not supposed to touch the other day.
Never see any of those green ones any more - Cabbage Whites I think they were.
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Post by felonious on Jun 23, 2020 12:29:39 GMT
Have you ever watched a bee feeding on a Lupin the flowers are are an incredible evolutionary marvel on how they deposit pollen while it gets the nectar. An engineer would struggle to design one... Right then, listen up, chaps, and for once I'm not muckin' about....... this is FACT: When we were at infants' school - yes - infants' school - (shut up, Fel) - we had these great reading books in class for English lessons, and they had really good, interesting and informative stories in them, and I've always remembered that one story was called 'Pockets in the Knees' and it was about bees collecting nectar/pollen from flowers and it said that they put the nectar/pollen in special little 'pockets' they have in their knees to carry it back to the hive. So now you know. ' Pockets in the Knees'. Another story was about Anna Pavlova, being on stage and seeing all the rich people in the audience and noticing how many furs and jewels the ladies wore, and how much the jewels all glittered, but I won't give any more details about that one as I know that when it comes to ballet most of you like to keep all the prancin' about you do in tutus and tights a private matter, and your secrets are safe with me. Well, mostly. Bet it also gave you a great insight in how to deal with naughty boys
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2020 15:08:22 GMT
I worked in Arizona for a year and got plenty of house Geckos
Since I've moved I've hardly seen any
Terrible to see these things dying out
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Post by pretzel on Jun 23, 2020 19:28:39 GMT
When we were at infants' school - yes - infants' school - (shut up, Fel) - we had these great reading books in class for English lessons, and they had really good, interesting and informative stories in them, and I've always remembered that one story was called 'Pockets in the Knees' and it was about bees collecting nectar/pollen from flowers and it said that they put the nectar/pollen in special little 'pockets' they have in their knees to carry it back to the hive. So now you know. ' Pockets in the Knees'. Hence 'The Bee's Knees' one assumes?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2020 20:43:23 GMT
Saw one of those 'woolly bear' caterpillars which you're not supposed to touch the other day. Never see any of those green ones any more - Cabbage Whites I think they were. I'm growing some Pak Choi this year and the wife dug two of them up for tea tonight. She found two of the little green caterpillars lurking in them when she was washing the leaves - we put them on the bird table where they didn't last long.
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Post by murphthesurf on Jun 23, 2020 22:41:08 GMT
Right then, listen up, chaps, and for once I'm not muckin' about....... this is FACT: When we were at infants' school - yes - infants' school - (shut up, Fel) - we had these great reading books in class for English lessons, and they had really good, interesting and informative stories in them, and I've always remembered that one story was called 'Pockets in the Knees' and it was about bees collecting nectar/pollen from flowers and it said that they put the nectar/pollen in special little 'pockets' they have in their knees to carry it back to the hive. So now you know. ' Pockets in the Knees'. Another story was about Anna Pavlova, being on stage and seeing all the rich people in the audience and noticing how many furs and jewels the ladies wore, and how much the jewels all glittered, but I won't give any more details about that one as I know that when it comes to ballet most of you like to keep all the prancin' about you do in tutus and tights a private matter, and your secrets are safe with me. Well, mostly. Bet it also gave you a great insight in how to deal with naughty boys The boy who sat behind me obviously had a thing about long blonde hair from an early age, Fel --- the little b*st*ard kept tying my very long plaits together and then dipping them in his inkwell.
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Post by murphthesurf on Jun 23, 2020 22:43:13 GMT
When we were at infants' school - yes - infants' school - (shut up, Fel) - we had these great reading books in class for English lessons, and they had really good, interesting and informative stories in them, and I've always remembered that one story was called 'Pockets in the Knees' and it was about bees collecting nectar/pollen from flowers and it said that they put the nectar/pollen in special little 'pockets' they have in their knees to carry it back to the hive. So now you know. ' Pockets in the Knees'. Hence 'The Bee's Knees' one assumes? Dunno, Pretz --- I'll have to look it up! More news 2moro!
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Post by franklin66 on Jun 24, 2020 12:36:03 GMT
Having lived in Stoke all my life a lot of the issues are the loss of green space, it was everywhere grass verges etc. Most have gone now to cheaper pavements and tarmac lots of paved driveways all reduce the habitat for creepy crawlies. I fell into the block paving trap because in our house we had two cars and a motorcycle that needed to be stored and moved so I block paved my front. And now I'm trying to fill it with pots because we only have one car now 🤷♂️
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Post by murphthesurf on Jun 24, 2020 13:21:14 GMT
Hence 'The Bee's Knees' one assumes? Dunno, Pretz --- I'll have to look it up! More news 2moro! Mission accomplished, peeps, and below we have everything we need to know about the intriguing wording, 'The bee's knees' - the phrase has nothing to do with the way the insects transport their nectar, but it was nice to see that a 'Pockets in the Knees'-type account of this was also given. So cop a load o' this and, no, I didn't know kippers wore undies, either: The bee's knees - What's the meaning of the phrase?
If something is said to be the bee's knees it is excellent - the highest quality. The origin of the phrase - the short version:
The phrase 'the bee's knees' was originally an 18th century fanciful phrase which didn't have any meaningful existence - it referred to something that didn't exist and was used as the kind-of spoof item which apprentices would be sent to the stores to fetch, like tartan paint or a left-handed hammer. This meaningless meaning is no longer used. In early 20th century America - 'the Roaring Twenties' - bright young things invented nonsense language and expressions to refer to things that were 'the tops' - like 'the cat's pajamas', 'the snake's hips', 'the kipper's knickers' and so on. They utilized the already-existing 'bee's knees' phrase to add to that list, since which time the expression has spread and is now used worldwide to mean 'excellent/the very best'. Cocktail time: Incidentally, like 'the cat's pajamas', the phrase 'the bee's knees' has given its name to a cocktail - it is made from gin and honey with lemon and orange juice. The origin of the phrase - the full story: It's difficult to know if we need an etymologist or an entomologist for this one.
The first question to ask either would be "Do bees have knees?" Well, yes they do. Not exactly like your knees though. Bees have six leg sections and each is connected by a joint. These joints aren't usually named but what better name than knee? The joint between the femur and tibia is the most 'knee-like'. Bees carry pollen back to the hive in sacs on their legs. It is tempting to explain 'the bee's knees' as alluding to the concentrated goodness to be found around a bee's knee, but there's no evidence to support this explanation. It is also sometimes said to be a corruption of 'business', but there's no evidence to support that either.
Nor is there any connection with another earlier phrase, 'a bee's knee'. In the 18th century this was used as a synonym for smallness, but has since disappeared from the language. There's no profound reason to relate bees and knees other than the jaunty-sounding rhyme of 'bees' and 'knees'. In the 1920s it was fashionable to use nonsense terms to denote excellence - 'the snake's hips', 'the kipper's knickers', and so on. Of these, the bee's knees and the cat's whiskers are the only ones to have stood the test of time. The nonsense expression 'the bee's knees' was taken up by the socialites of Roaring 20s America and added to the list of 'excellent' phrases.
(Extract edited by the MLD - Murph Lexicon Division.
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Post by murphthesurf on Jun 24, 2020 13:36:29 GMT
And before anybody asks, okay, here's the cocktail, too: Bee's Knees
Gin, lemon juice and honey create a buzzworthy cocktail. Ingredients 2 fl. ounces gin 3/4 fl. ounces fresh lemon juice 1/2 fl. ounces honey syrup* Garnish: lemon twist Or 50ml Gin 2 teaspoons honey 20ml fresh lemon juice 10ml fresh orange juice MethodAdd gin and honey to a shaker and stir until the honey dissolves. Add the lemon and orange juice and top up with ice. Shake well. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with an orange zest twist or lemon twist. As an alternative, try pouring the cocktail on the rocks – it’s not quite the same but is perfect for the occasions where either you or a guest wants a touch more dilution as the ice helps break up the sweetness & allows the cocktail to loosen up a little. *Honey syrup: Heat 1/2 cup honey and 1/2 cup water to a small saucepan over medium heat. You can experiment and decide how much of a honey flavor you want in your syrup. The more honey you use, the thicker the syrup and stronger in flavor it will be. www.ginfoundry.com/cocktail/bees-knees-cocktail/ and www.liquor.com/recipes/bees-knees/
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Post by murphthesurf on Jun 24, 2020 19:03:15 GMT
I worked in Arizona for a year and got plenty of house Geckos Since I've moved I've hardly seen any Terrible to see these things dying out ☼ Phoenix, Arizona. September 2007 110°F in the shade
And me, for the first time in history, unable to finish my ice cream because I felt as if I was being boiled alive.
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Post by franklin66 on Jun 24, 2020 19:17:33 GMT
I worked in Arizona for a year and got plenty of house Geckos Since I've moved I've hardly seen any Terrible to see these things dying out ☼ Phoenix, Arizona. September 2007 110°F in the shade
And me, for the first time in history, unable to finish my ice cream because I felt as if I was being boiled alive. I once stopped at Death Vally in 2007 and it was ridiculous I cant remember but it was about 120°f I got off the coach took a pic and got back on. I cant stand it today at home at about 90°f or whatever it is.
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Post by murphthesurf on Jun 24, 2020 19:28:08 GMT
☼ Phoenix, Arizona. September 2007 110°F in the shade
And me, for the first time in history, unable to finish my ice cream because I felt as if I was being boiled alive. I once stopped at Death Vally in 2007 and it was ridiculous I cant remember but it was about 120°f I got off the coach took a pic and got back on. I cant stand it today at home at about 90°f or whatever it is. Same 'ere, I just wilt. I'm just a delicate little flower...... I think about 70' is my top limit, and I'm even boiled then.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2020 19:40:59 GMT
I ventured into my greenhouse this afternoon to check my tomato plants - the thermometer said it was 45 deg C which apparently is 113F in old money.
It was a tad uncomfortable to say the least so I quickly beat a hasty exit.
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Post by franklin66 on Jun 24, 2020 20:11:20 GMT
I once stopped at Death Vally in 2007 and it was ridiculous I cant remember but it was about 120°f I got off the coach took a pic and got back on. I cant stand it today at home at about 90°f or whatever it is. Same 'ere, I just wilt. I'm just a delicate little flower...... I think about 70' is my top limit, and I'm even boiled then. Yep a comfortable temp I'm happy at about 20°C outside but I still sit under a brolly then. When I'm on my hols its brolly, pool, brolly, pool and repeat.
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Post by marylandstoke on Jun 24, 2020 20:24:47 GMT
Many moons ago, in a different life (when I was in London) I read an article on proper, old fashioned Turkish baths and discovered there’s was still one, very old example in London.
So....
Tracked it down. The most amazing tile. Three rooms, simply marked hot, hotter and hottest. Well, start with hot right?
My initial thought was that some prankster had switched the signs. I was later to find this not to be the case. The third room, well, if you moved, it hurt. To move a limb through it you could feel it.
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