Busy bee

It took me a while to get a shot of this bumble bee that I was happy with because it was very busy and didn't stay still for long! But finally he stayed in one place on this beautiful purple lavender for just about long enough!!

I was on my way to collect my children from school, after a busy day of running around doing chores and it was the perfect opportunity to stop and take in this moment of nature at work. There were in fact several bees on this plant, all flying from one flower to another, expertly avoiding landing on the same bud as another. The wind was swaying the flowers and the modest weight of the bees made them sway some more.

It's amazing that most species naturally do what they are instinctively supposed to do - bees collect pollen from flowers, butterflies lay their eggs on the correct host leaves for their caterpillars to feed on, a zebra (according to my son) will stand as soon as it is born and it's mother will force it to, so it is prepared for the threats in their natural world.

However as humans are now so far removed from our natural habitat and have little need for survival techniques in the true sense that I certainly feel we have lost our way as a species. I know there are many advantages we have now compared to that of cave man days but the way have created lives to be so functional is clearly detrimental. We don't wake up to the sun but to the noisy alarm we set to wake us in the depths of darkness. Did you know that working to the clock started in Victorian times when factory workers were forced to work by the clock instead of during sunrise and would receive severe penalties if they were late. They would wake to a bell ringing, be given a 5 minute warning bell and then a start bell. Now we think nothing of it. I could go on and on here...

But our survival instincts and intuition are still there within us, they have just been beaten out of us since birth because of the world we have created. I suspect this little bee is more content going about his natural business than many human being going about their very unnatural business. But we can bring the natural world back into our lives and it makes us naturally more appreciative an content....