A Suburban Journey
I’m underneath a large pohutukawa, my shoulder blades resting in earth, looking up at the fiery ring of blossoms etched out by sky and sun.
Light catches translucent wings of tens of hundreds of bees, and other flying insects attracted to the blaze. Pinpoints of energy, life patterning through air.
I’m stuck on the ground.
Tim and I stopped at the shore of Browns Bay by the inlet and watched schools of mullet bubbling and swirling beneath the glinting surface.
By the water’s edge I watched several honeybees hovering over the sand close to my feet. They were landing on small clumps of wet, green seaweed and walking over it – and tasting it! They weren’t interested in the dry seaweed, only the stuff being lapped by the small waves. What would the seaweed be providing them? Perhaps they were thirsty. I was so intrigued that I hoped online and read that honeybees have salt-sensing feet! They prefer slightly salted water and dirty water, which provide additional minerals and vitamins needed for their metabolism. Some honey producers feed seaweed to their bee colonies during lean times and in an effort to counter bee diseases and colony collapses.
Stephanie Pappas, a contributing writer for Live Science, writes about the bees’ salt sensing feet
New neighbours moved in a few weeks back. No one said anything but a couple of families set up camp in our front yard. I say ‘our yard’ but I’m not convinced it is. A piece of paper suggests we technically own the property, but does anyone really ‘own’ parts of Earth? Who was here before me, us – settlers, early Māori, more than humans? The recent arrivals seem to have a keener sense of ownership and purpose than me. One family is numerous, busy and bossy. They zig zag around me, in an irritated fashion, on their way in and out of the property. The other lot are more discreet, and quieter, occupying the far end of the courtyard.
Continue reading “Arrivals”
Some of the neighbours have gone suddenly, without word. I can’t say I really knew them well. They lived halfway down Postgate Drive and I stopped by to say hello now and again. I had always admired their intricate home which took ages to build. They were a secretive lot though. Some said they belonged to a ‘Secret Service’.
I learned that night-time was their thing. The younger members ate remarkable amounts of fast food, while the adults, who had been through life changing events, were attracted to visiting others for drinks and snacks. Though no one seems sure of who they were visiting exactly. Except it was a life-giving exchange for both.
Continue reading “Departures”
We are slowly tilting towards the sun’s warmth. Our neighbourhood is flushed with colour and fragrance. A frenzied relationship between flower-insect-bird is taking place: pollen movement and fertilisation for the plant and pollen protein and nectar energy for the pollinating insects and birds. The wild energy is understandable. Life is impermanent. The exchange is momentary.
Ornamental cherry, lavender, magnolia, camelia, and rhododendron were the first noticeable signalers on berms, leaning over private fences. Now it’s the dreamy scents from the less obvious flowers of our native trees which are luring me and the pollinators. There’s the small cream, white or pale green florets of tarata (lemonwood), rangiora, tī kōuka/cabbage tree, pāpāuma/kāpuka/griselinia and the dark purple/red of kōhūhū, karo and the stunning spiky orbs of rewarewa. Frustratingly I can’t follow everywhere the bees, moths, beetles and flies go, up high or deep into bushes or in other people’s gardens.
Continue reading “Following fragrance and frenzy”
Whitby locals Alan and Marie, have kindly allowed me to share a couple their stunning photos (above and below) from their trek to visit endangered monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico’s Sierra Chincua sanctuary. At about this time of year (Northern Hemisphere’s autumn) the butterflies migrate up to 3,000 miles from Canada and North America – an incredible natural phenomenon.* “The sound of their flapping was like light rain” says Alan. Their local guide, Raúl Hernández, remarked “if there was a god they would be here”, recalls Marie. Her thoughts drift back to when they heard, years later, that Raúl and fellow activist and manager of the federally protected Reserva de Biosfera de la Mariposa Monarca (Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve) were killed in suspicious circumstances. The tensions between local communities seeking sustainable tourism from the Reserve and others carrying out logging and clearcutting for avocado plantations underscore the forced marginalisation of human and butterfly from ancient lands.
The trip inspired Marie and Alan to do something for the Whitby butterfly population and other pollinators. So over a cuppa we started talking about that but the conversation seemed to have its own pathway, floating, butterfly-like, into discussions about living in a community and a collective culture in a local place.
Tree branches droop with the weight of millions of monarch butterflies, wings closed, in huge clusters of tightly packed formations. Their brown masses well camouflaged, resembling parts of the oyamel fir and pine forests in which they overwinter in Mexico.
Photo credit here and above: Alan and Marie Roberts, Whitby
blazes of gold summoning across the commons tui dive and sup small sticky boots wedge inside deeper than I can follow
Still stuck at home with the flu, with little energy to much neighbourhood walking, Instead I get curious about the vitality of insects, and attempt to map their kinetic energy and pollinating pathways, during moments of warmth and sun following days of grey skies and rain. For half an hour I make line drawings, trying not to look at the paper, letting my eye and hand follow the paths of bees and flies as they fly in and out of frame, feeding on flowers.
Continue reading “Kinetic paths and orientation”
Spotted this cool sign on a neighbourhood fence during a Whitby walk. Made me smile. I love that the invitation to passers-by has an openness to interpretation. Be kind to bees, be kind in general, and maybe beekind, as in bees being considered collectively, as in humankind!
Continue reading “Bee-kin”
It’s Aotearoa Moth Week! Science communicator, Morgane Merien says moths or pūrerehua are incredibly important. We have over 1800 species of moths in New Zealand, with around 90% of them being unique to here. They get a “bad rap” but are wonderful pollinators – second only to bees, an important food source for birds, and indicators of healthy environments (like a canary in a coal mine). Yet, relatively little is known about them and whether they too are declining like many insects.
Continue reading “Night of the Bag Moth”
Edge of Things 