Bumble bees, honey bees and hoverflies of all descriptions this month found our big pink Michaelmas Daisies which we brought from the allotment nearly two years ago. These insects have an amazing aerial agility in rising up and setting down, inspiration for the miniature machines that have copied their aerodynamic mechanisms. The stronger ones, those who I expect to survive the winter, buzzed rapidly from flower to flower, seeking for nectar. The older ones that aroused my sympathy, moved at crawl speed. One battered specimen in particular, its woolly back showing signs of wear, clung on to a single flower long after the others had flown.
Bees do not live for ever. Every generation and kind of bee that reappears and reproduces after the winter gives me cause for rejoicing. I hope the vigorous ones tuck themselves away in cracks, crevices and fallen logs until the warmer weather. As autumn advances I expect our daisies eventually to die down to shoot up in spring, and also our Echinacea which was yet another bargain buy from the upmarket garden centre, grown by a Yorkshire nursery and labelled 'perfect for pollinators' by the RHS. If all goes well next year, we shall split both perennials and there will be more landing platforms for these marvellous creatures, to feed themselves and to sustain life.
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