Spring: Season of bursting buds and buzzing bees

April's Charms
by William Henry Davies (1871-1940)

When April scatters charms of primrose gold
Among the copper leaves in thickets old,
And singing skylarks from the meadows rise,
To twinkle like black stars in sunny skies;

When I can hear the small woodpecker ring
Time on a tree for all the birds that sing;
And hear the pleasant cuckoo, loud and long --
The simple bird that thinks two notes a song;

When I can hear the woodland brook, that could
Not drown a babe, with all his threatening mood;
Upon these banks the violets make their home,
And let a few small strawberry blossoms come:

When I go forth on such a pleasant day,
One breath outdoors takes all my cares away;
It goes like heavy smoke, when flames take hold
Of wood that's green and fill a grate with gold.

Red-tailed bumblebee queen (Bombus lapidarius)

Common carder bee queen (Bombus pascuorum)

Siberian bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla)

Mediterranean spurge (Euphorbia characias)

Early bumblebee queen (Bombus pratorum)

A little hoverfly in an azalea flower

Bee-fly (Bombylius major)

Alpine clematis (Clematis alpina)

Mining bee (Andrena sp.) in a tulip flower

Spotted deadnettle (Lamium maculatum)

A Horse chestnut tree

Buff-tailed bumblebee queen (Bombus terrestris)

Cowslip (Primula veris)

Hairy-footed flower bee female (Anthophora plumipes)

Japanese maple (Acer palmatum)

A Japanese maple leaf

Ornamental cherry tree (Prunus sp.) blossom

Ornamental cherry trees in April

Cowslips, daffodils and cherry blossom

A little crab spider hiding in a daffodil flower

Crap apple tree flowers

Drumstick primulas (Primula denticulata)

Snake`s head fritillary (Frittilaria meleagris)

A green-bottle fly in a Lesser celandine flower

Small tortoiseshell sipping nectar from a Grape hyacinth

Daffodils on the University of Reading campus

A Comma butterfly on ornamental cherry flowers

A little mining bee (Andrena sp.)

A honeybee

Young Sycamore leaf

Cowslip in early morning sunshine

Hairy-footed flower bee male

Wild daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus)

A little fly sitting on a Snake`s head fritillary flower

An ornamental cherry tree in full flower

Bumblebees like the cherry tree flowers

A little Common toad, perfectly camouflaged