Inebriated insect

26 August 2007

It was late morning by the time I went to have my first check of my vegetable patch today. It was Sunday after all. God likes me to stay in bed. One of the female flowers on the pumpkin vine that has stretched out onto the lawn was open, so I looked around for a suitor. I picked my way through the vines and found a male flower that had also opened that morning. As I tugged it off the plant I saw that there was something inside the flower: a fat bumblebee. With grains of pollen littering his fur, his head was stuck firmly down at the bottom of the flower as he lapped up the nectar. He was moving for nobody.

I took the flower inside to show Mum this intoxicated being and still he made no signs of leaving the cosy confines of the bright yellow petals. After taking a couple of shots of him I took him off, flower and all, to the female flower that was still awaiting a mate. Eventually I managed to transfer the bee from one flower to the other, where he drunkenly stumbled straight towards the new well of nectar. With any luck the few bits of pollen he carried with him will have fertilised the flower. Only time will tell, but one thing’s for sure: that bee’s gonna have one hell of a headache tomorrow.