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There are almost 250 species of solitary bees in the United Kingdom – and the most recent addition to that number is the ivy bee (Colletes hederae).  They looks similar to honey bees – and can often be mistaken for them – but they are a little smaller.  What sets them apart from other bees is the fact that they don’t emerge until late in the year – early autumn in fact.  As the name suggests, it is ivy that they are after and because ivy flowers late, these patient bees wait and wait and wait until it’s time to go and collect the pollen.

They may be solitary in terms of each female digging her own burrow, but when it comes to their favourite spots, they don’t mind coming together in huge numbers – often in their thousands. The males emerge first and patrol around the colony waiting (they like waiting, so perhaps are perfectly at home in the UK!) for the females to come out to play (as it were).   As the female only mates once, when she does signify that she is ready, there is something of a rugby scrum between the males to get to her – which by bee standards looks a little inelegant to say the least. 

Once mating has happened, the female will dig her nest in soft soil, and then go back and forth to the nearest ivy flowers to collect enough pollen to feed her young.  If the ivy is scarce, they will visit other flowers (daisies seem to be the alternative choice), but if you see bees around ivy at these time of year and up to November, the chances are that they are ivy bees.  Strangely enough, this particular species was only recognised as a distinct species in 1993, when it was discovered that they were distinct to another Collates species. 

In this video, Miranda from Grain of Sand shows us this marvel of nature.  These bees were first recorded in the UK in the early 2000s and they are now spreading (that’s global warming for you, I guess, but I do wonder what they made of this last summer).  And yes, of course these bees sting, but they would really rather not - so keep a little distance if you are ever lucky enough to encounter them.

Watch the video below – I found it immensely interesting, not to mention calming!

Pusoy GameZone brings the traditional card game online while offering several versions. These variants retain the core idea of arranging 13 cards into three hands while adding different features. 

For Filipino players familiar with Pusoy from physical card tables, the transition to online play is more than simply replacing cards with a screen. The digital format changes how players access games, interact with opponents, and experience different versions of a familiar card game.

From Traditional Pusoy to Online Pusoy

Pusoy is commonly associated with Chinese poker and is played using a standard 52-card deck. Its distinctive feature is the process of dividing 13 cards into three poker-style hands and comparing those hands with opponents.

The traditional experience is often social. Players sit around the same table, handle physical cards, arrange their hands, and react to the people playing beside them. 

That environment gives Pusoy a familiar place within Filipino card-game culture alongside games such as Tongits and Pusoy Dos.

Online Pusoy changes the setting without necessarily changing the central concept.

This creates a different rhythm. Physical cards are replaced by an interface, face-to-face interaction becomes online competition, and access is no longer dependent on having a deck of cards and enough people nearby to start a game.

Let’s face it, some people like their pets big! If you are looking for a large dog there are a number of breeds which are generally referred to as giants. Be careful, though – you should only consider these breeds if you have lots of space, lots of time and quite a deal of money. The Ark in Space takes a look at the giants of the canine world.

The English Mastiff
The English Mastiff, in terms of mass is the big daddy of all dogs and its dimensions particularly that of the male are something to be believed. Every inch of this dog gives off strength and power – if the planet Krypton had a dog then this would probably be it. The world record holding breed for weight, this dog can weigh up to two hundred and fifty pounds for a male and around fifty pounds less than a female. The breed has been around for a long time – the name probably derives from the Anglo-Saxon word for powerful –masty. It is generally recognized to be the oldest dog breed in the UK.

The sword-billed hummingbird is a record-breaker (although blithely oblivious to the fact, no doubt).  The female of the species is in possession of the longest bill in the world – with the obvious caveat that this record is held with respect to body length.  The longest ever recorded was 12 centimetres long (that’s 4.7 inches).  You can see in the picture above a female sword-billed hummingbird next to a buff-tailed coronet (which looks impressed) – and you can clearly see who the winner is here, at least in terms of length. (image)

The scientific name for the sword-billed hummingbird is Ensifera ensifera, and the name is derived from the Latin words for sword (ensis) and carry (ferre).  Together, the words mean sword-wielder and never was there a more appropriate name for a bird!  It is a monotypic species, which means that it has only one recognized subspecies or variety.  So the sword-billed hummingbird is unique.

Image

It lives in the Andean region of South America – and so its region is geographically long and thin.  It is one of the largest of the hummingbird species and is, as you can see, rather gorgeous to look at.  However, the one thing that will always stand out is the bill – it is the only bird on the planet to have a bill longer than the rest of its body (excluding the tail feathers).  You might well ask why it evolved such a long bill – and that’s because it drinks nectar from local flowers with particularly long corollas (they are the long, tube-like parts of the flowers),  In fact it coevolved with the passion flower Passiflora mixta.

Although we don’t really know how many there are, the sword-billed hummingbird is not considered to be endangered – phew! Watch some remarkable footage from the BBC’s Planet Earth II below.