On 27/2/08 14:32, in article
, "Dave
Hill" wrote:

On 27 Feb, 14:00, Sacha wrote:
On 27/2/08 13:31, in article
, "Des



Higgins" wrote:
On Feb 27, 12:33 pm, Sacha wrote:
snip
When we were having the
house re-wired some years ago, the electrician withdraw his head from the
floorboards looking very white one day and said "they're breeding with
lobsters down there!".

Some days, I am glad not to be a plumber or electrician.

That was certainly his day for wishing he wasn't!

--
Sachahttp://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Many years ago now I was done over by bees,
I was rotovating with a treactor mounted rotovator and went about 3 ft
from 4 hives, they didn't like it one bit.

They don't like to feel people or things bouncing around near the hive and
they don't like their flight path to be blocked, either.

The Drt took around 40 stings from my head, and next day I was back at
work, feeling a little battered, For some reason they went for my head
but not my face,

You're very lucky. I had somewhere between 12 and 16 stings, mainly in my
head, woke in the night feeling as if I had a serious case of flu and next
morning could open one eye only and then just a slit. I was very swollen
and couldn't go out of the house for about 4 days. The doc gave me an
injection and told me not to get stung ever again! Now, in summer I carry
one of those pen things with me.

My own fault.
A few weeks later I was rotovating outside the estate wall when a
swarm came over the wall and went passed me only aboyt 6 ft away. I
didn't stop shaking for almost half an hour.
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries

When they're in swarm mode they're not interested in much else!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

"Des Higgins" wrote in message
...
On Feb 27, 2:19 pm, "Mary Fisher" wrote:
"Des Higgins" wrote in message

news:0724a3f2-2388-40bc-
...

--

The very delicate very very long legged spiders (Pholcus phalagioides)
do not bite
but the big hairy scuttling ones can pierce human skin. These are the
really big ones that you get stuck in bath tubs (Tegenaria species)
that people thought came up the plug hole but didn't. They can bite
and cause a reaction (swelling and pain) so I am wary of them although
I have hardly seen any for 4 or 5 years. It is as if they have been
replaced by Pholcus which used only be found along the south coast of
Ireland and UK in these here parts.

Where is 'these here parts'?

I'd like to know more about spiders but it's such a huge subject, I doubt
I've enough time left :-)

Mary

This is from a spider web site:

"The World of Spiders. by W.M. Bristow.
Published by Collins in their New Naturalist series this book is now
sadly out of print, but can be obtained from most public libraries.
This is the best general account of British spiders written to date.
Each of its chapters looks at a particular family of spiders dealing
with their biology and natural history plus much anecdotal
information. "

It is a fantastic introduction to general spiders in UK and what they
do. I read it when I was about 15, in the 70s.

Get thee behind me!

There are stacks of books in every room which I haven't yet read :-(

Mary

Mary Fisher wrote:
"Jeff Layman" wrote in message

That includes good invertebrates as well as bad.

Good? Bad?

Good/bad in terms of their effects on food crops.
Good: pollinators such as honey bees. Predators which eat "bad"
invertebrates such as ladybirds and hoverflies (eat aphids); ground beetles
(eat slugs). No doubt there are others.

Bad: see above. Aphids, slugs, snails, wireworms, cutworms, weevils. Sadly
the list is endless. Perhaps it would be possible to include those
flatworms which eat earthworms (but I haven't seen anything about them
recently - weren't they supposed to have killed off the UK earthworm
population by now?).


If they disappeared from the earth tomorrow the ecosystem wouldn't
notice - other predators would take up the slack.

Like Man.

? If Man disappeared tomorrow it would probably be a good thing for the
ecosystem. At least for the current ecosystem - it has changed several
times over the hundreds of millions of years since life developed.


But if bees disappeared, that's another thing altogether...

?

Other than plants pollinated by the wind and some other specific pollinators
(humming birds, butterflies, moths, bats), all the bee-pollinated plants
would eventually die off. Most certainly, all our fruit would go, and so
would a lot of the other plants which feed us. I guess that cereals (which
are wind-pollinated) would keep us going for a while.

--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)

Robert (Plymouth) wrote:
"Jeff Layman" wrote in message
...
Robert (Plymouth) wrote:
"Jeff Layman" wrote in message

Queen wasps? Where did I put that pyrethrin spray?

shouldn't kill them they do a lot of good

If they leave me alone, I leave them alone. But they don't (3 nests
under the tiles in 8 years. You try keeping windows closed in
summer to keep wasps out of the house)

At best wasps are neutral to the environment. They eat anything
they can kill, to feed their young as well as themselves. That
includes good invertebrates as well as bad. If they disappeared from
the earth tomorrow the ecosystem wouldn't notice - other predators
would take up the slack.

That is absolute nonsense

I would be happy to retract if you show me evidence why I'm wrong. In
Africa wild dogs are nearing extinction, but do you think hyenas and the
numerous feline predators would sit back and not eat the extra prey?

--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)

"Jeff Layman" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher wrote:
"Jeff Layman" wrote in message

That includes good invertebrates as well as bad.

Good? Bad?

Good/bad in terms of their effects on food crops.
Good: pollinators such as honey bees. Predators which eat "bad"
invertebrates such as ladybirds and hoverflies (eat aphids); ground
beetles (eat slugs). No doubt there are others.

Bad: see above. Aphids, slugs, snails, wireworms, cutworms, weevils.
Sadly the list is endless.

No list is endless.

Perhaps it would be possible to include those flatworms which eat
earthworms (but I haven't seen anything about them recently - weren't they
supposed to have killed off the UK earthworm population by now?).


If they disappeared from the earth tomorrow the ecosystem wouldn't
notice - other predators would take up the slack.

Like Man.

? If Man disappeared tomorrow it would probably be a good thing for the
ecosystem.

For some values of 'good'. From your point of view?

We do see the world as we are, not as it is.


But if bees disappeared, that's another thing altogether...

?

Other than plants pollinated by the wind and some other specific
pollinators (humming birds, butterflies, moths, bats), all the
bee-pollinated plants would eventually die off.

And so?

Most certainly, all our fruit would go, and so would a lot of the other
plants which feed us.

Ah, so Man is still the centre of your universe.

Mary

Mary Fisher wrote:
"Jeff Layman" wrote in message

Other than plants pollinated by the wind and some other specific
pollinators (humming birds, butterflies, moths, bats), all the
bee-pollinated plants would eventually die off.

And so?

You'd probably have a lot less trouble with perennial weeds in the lawn, if
you really want to hear a flippant reply.

Most certainly, all our fruit would go, and so would a lot of the
other plants which feed us.

Ah, so Man is still the centre of your universe.

Well, I wouldn't agree with that, but I don't subscribe to alt.misanthropy
either.

--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)

"Jeff Layman" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher wrote:
"Jeff Layman" wrote in message

Other than plants pollinated by the wind and some other specific
pollinators (humming birds, butterflies, moths, bats), all the
bee-pollinated plants would eventually die off.

And so?

You'd probably have a lot less trouble with perennial weeds in the lawn,
if you really want to hear a flippant reply.

We don't have a lawn. The hens eat all the grass :-)

Most certainly, all our fruit would go, and so would a lot of the
other plants which feed us.

Not all but you're still mentioning foods which are central to Man's
existence.

Ah, so Man is still the centre of your universe.

Well, I wouldn't agree with that,

That's just what you ARE saying.

--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)

"Dave Hill" wrote in message
...
This evening as I was cooking supper I heard a buzzing and looked
towards the light to see a Queen Wasp, after a few mins of trying to
get her somewhere I could swat her things came to the boil snd I had
to leave her , when I looked again she had gone somewhere where I
couldn't find her, but I expect she'll be back.
I've never had a queen wasp around this early in the year.

David Hill
Abacus Nurseries



A few years back we had an average of 2 per week in the house Feb to May,
last year not one.