[project] transforming a small ecosystem

[Frank Fremerey]

Precisely identifying a bee, fly, hover fly, etc ... is not easy.  The key below (sorry, in French) is a simplified one https://typo3.natagora.be/fileadmin/Interreg/Sapoll/pdf/cles_des_genres_SAPOLL_v7.1.pdf

Personally, I’m happy with a broad category and the identification of a few easy to recognize like Bombylius major that you have: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombylius_major

BTW, I’m sure you thought about it already but setting up a few hollow tubes of varying diameters would provide a nesting place for solitary bees.

Youre project is evolving very nicely.

A bee hotel? I created a natural fence that consits of sticks and straws and hollow blades and provides plenty of nesting opportunities...  I will post a picture soon

[ColinM]

I'm just catching up on these Frank.
What a lovely collection - there's a great sense of "life" about them, over and above pure etymological capture.

The furry hoverfly-type ones have loads of character don't they?

[Frank Fremerey]

I'm just catching up on these Frank.
What a lovely collection - there's a great sense of "life" about them, over and above pure etymological capture.

The furry hoverfly-type ones have loads of character don't they?

these are real assholes with their life style. The Bombylius major shoot their eggs near the nests of solitary bees. Their offspring then eat up the food stored by the bee and later eat their larvae alive.

Also fascinating: they can fly like Hummingbirds and some species can suck the nectare without touching the plant with their landing gear. I got three species of bee flies here, but did not manage to picture them all...

[Frank Fremerey]

I am not impressed with the Canon 500D Diopter...

... it reduces the resolution of the 300PF very much

...glassless extension or teleconverter are the way to go: very flexible & high resolution

This batch is Canon 500 Diopter Nikon D500 Nikkor 300PF

[Frank Fremerey]

some nice extended shots:

[Frank Fremerey]

My stay in Scotland fell into a fast forward warm & wet period. The plants are now breast high and bees are many although we currently caught a cold spell...

This is the power of the D850 from full frame down to 100% crop of the same file:

[Frank Fremerey]

My garden does not really cater to German death & order regime with stones & glyphosat, it is a feast of life & chaos just like me!

[Frank Fremerey]

And some details, also for plant identification (hint: there was not goat in the picture, so stop searching ...):

[Frank Fremerey]

And some MORE details, also for plant identification (hint: there was not goat in the picture, so stop searching ...):

[Birna Rørslett]

The purple flower in the few last photos is Agrostemma githago (Corncocle). An "old-fashioned" weed of agricultural fields. The grass is probably Poa trivialis (Rough Meadow-Grass), which prefers fertile and damp soils.

A member of the Daisy family early in the series with blue or purple flower heads is Centarurea cyanus (Cornflower). The clover with a long dark red inflorescence is Trifolium incarnatum (Crimson Clover).

All except perhaps the Poa are likely only temporary members of your little ecosystem.

[Frank Fremerey]

the long term goal of my project is a set of perennial plants who will stabilize as an ecosystem in a damp fertile environment. The 80+, mostly annuals you see here in the first season are chosen as diagnostic species. The "Wiesenschaumkraut" is a perennial that creates, just like the Adipidium not only a plethora of seeds but also a mycel. The soil is heavily overseeded with annuals that last long in the ground. All that has not come this year has a chance to come later. Now I have to dig into resesrch which perennials are good candidates for a damp nutrient rich sun bathed lot...

When will be the right time to mow and is it a good idea to pyrolyze the Stuff and dig it in for year two?

I do want to encourage the biodiversity of soil organisms

Agepodium still has to be further discouraged.

Should I bring in flowering cabbage or mushrooms?

[Frank Fremerey]

https://www.google.com/search?q=ecosystem+restoration+in+damp+fertile+environments&oq=ecosystem+restoration+in+damp+fertile+environments&aqs=chrome..69i57.19802j0j4&client=ms-android-huawei-rev1&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8



for further reference...

... on global impact of the concept

[Akira]

Frank, you are creating an amazing ecosystem out there.  The small precious visitors seem to prove that the environment is healthy and natural.

[Frank Fremerey]

Frank, you are creating an amazing ecosystem out there.  The small precious visitors seem to prove that the environment is healthy and natural.

thx, Akira.

As humans are part of nature, every Ecosystem is "natural" in a way ... Also the Androidecosystem or the Bayer-Monsanto-GEO-Monoculture-Ecosystem ... "natural" in the common sense is but: grown without human intervention, not intended by humans ... in that sense my project is not "natural" but "planned and designed" ...

[Fons Baerken]

Very nice; what we call Bolderik, (Agrostemma) in Netherlands, eliminated from cereal fields nowadays since its seeds are poisonous for humans.