Bumblebees sleeping in flowers

Above you can see photos of Garden bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) male falling asleep on a spike of lavander flower. I took the photograph in the evening, just as sunset was over and the temperature was goind down. The bumble bees showed signs of having difficulty to move and setteled on the flowers of a border of lavender for the night.
Once males leave the nest they do not go back, so they have to find somewhere to spend the night. Hanging underneath the heads of flowers, clinging to small flowers, even getting right into them, in case of big flowers, is what they normally do.
Their temperatures will drop and by morning they will have used up their stores of energy, so until they warm up by either drinking nectar or just waiting in the sun or both, they will appear listless and slow. And easy to photograph – I’d like to add.

Sleeping on or inside flowers is a good strategy for bumblebees as research has shown that the temperature at the base of flowers, near the source of nectar, can be as much as 10 °C higher than the surrounding air temperature.

Common Blue butterfly

The Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) of the Lycaenidae family is found throughout Europe, from the extreme north of Scandinavia to the smallest islands of the Mediterranean. Beyond Europe, it’s range extends from the Middle East across temperate Asia to northern China. It also occurs in north Africa and the Canary Islands. Recently it seems to have migrated to Canada too. Like many butterflies male and female individuals may vary a lot in appearance. While the male has bright blue uppersides, the female is primarily brown, with a highly variable amount of blue.
Males are often very obvious as they defend territories against rivals and search out the more reclusive females. The female is less conspicuous, spending most of her time nectaring, resting and egg-laying. When egg-laying, the female makes slow flights, low over the ground, searching out suitable foodplants on which to lay. When a suitable plant is located, a single egg is laid on the upperside of a young leaf.
This species is found in a wide variety of habitats, including unimproved grassland such as roadside verges and waste ground, downland, woodland clearings.
In dull weather this species roosts head down on a grass stem. This species roosts communally at night, with several individuals occasionally found roosting on the same grass stem. Roosting at the top of the grasses is probably an effective survival strategy, keeping them out of reach of mice and other nocturnal predators.
Despite it’s name, the Common Blue can no longer be considered a common butterfly. It still remains widespread , but many colonies in marginal habitats such as woodland rides and farmland have declined or been lost.  The species still occurs in moderate numbers but most colonies nowadays comprise of no more than a few dozen individuals.

Common Carder-bumblebee

I took this photo of a Common Carder-bumblebee (bombus pascuorum) a few days ago during a walk along the river Arno. She has just left a “difficult” yellow flower, called Common Toadflax or Yellow Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) where a honey bee would not have succeed plunging into the gullet of the flower allowing the top petal to fully enclose her. Only a heavy and strong insect such as a bumblebee (Bombus species) can get into such flowers and suchly impollinate them.

Bumblebees are lovely little creatures – their bright stripes and gentle buzz bring colour and sound to our summers. They are also very important because they pollinate our wildflowers and crops. Sadly things aren’t going well and some species are threatened with extinction. 
They are present in most of Europe in a wide variety of habitats such as meadows, pastures, waste ground, road and field margins, as well as gardens and parks in urban areas, but bumblebees are in danger in many developed countries due to habitat destruction and collateral pesticide damage.

One of their obvious characteristics is the soft nature of the hair, called pile, that covers their entire body, making them appear and feel fuzzy. Like their relatives the honey bees, bumble bees feed on nectar and gather pollen to feed their young. Bumblebees are not aggressive at all, but will sting in defence of their nest, or if you annoy them; and they can sting more than once, unlike bees.
According to an urban legend the laws of aerodynamics prove that the bumble bee should be incapable of flight, as it does not have the capacity (in terms of wing size or beats per second) to achieve flight with the degree of wing loading necessary. More accurate studies and calculations in aerodynamics have proved this to be wrong. Bumblebees have known that forever.

Common Brimstone Butterfly

Common Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) is a butterfly of the Pieridae family, in the photo you see a male butterfly on a thistle.
The Brimstones are active during the day and love sunshine. Since they need a lot of water you can find quite a lot of them near humid places where they can find the water.
On the upper side the males are of intense sulphur yellow color, whereas the females are white with a greenish tinge but both have an orange spot in the centre of each wing. They never settle with their wings open and from the underside the sexes are more difficult to separate. Their wing shape is unique and is designed to act as camouflage while they rest and during their long hibernation.
Brimstones (G. rhamni) are one of the longest lived butterflies, living up to thirteen months, although most of this time is spent in hibernation. They are often the first butterfly to be seen in the year, sometimes as early as January (here in Tuscany) when hibernating adults wake up on a sunny day.
Females lay the eggs only once a year on the leaves of either Common Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) or Alder Buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula) – the only two food plants – and will fly far and wide in search for these particular shrubs. Brimstone butterflies spend the summer feeding on nectar to build up energy reserves for the winter and by the end of August they are already beginning their long sleep. They seek out evergreen scrub, a favourite being dense, old ivy growths.
There is a popular myth that it is this butterfly which gave us the word butterfly, a corruption of butter-coloured fly.