For me, one of the best ways of saving bees is to stop treating them as an industry and leave them in peace.
There are a lot of well-meaning people who are treating bees appallingly. Chris from Planete Passion calls them “bee fiddlers” - I agree.
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and for us ordinary folk… there are some simple things we can do to help.
I’m thrilled to see the variety of bees we get on our wild patch, especially since the heat is killing-off/reducing -flowering on our “pot plants”.
The other day when lowering myself into the pond I noticed at the far end a big orange slug on the liner just above the waterline.
Concerned for its welfare, of course, but also because it is where my hand goes to grasp the crosspond belt, I thought I would grab it when there and chuck it over the fence.
With one hand firmly on the belt (can’t stand unaided due to the sloping pond bed at the ends) I grabbed the visitor but it slipped out of my fingers and fell into the water…and completely and instantly disappeared. 
I groped about but no sign of it and it must have gone straight to the bottom. Would it survive? Would Hissing Sid or his missus or kids gobble it up? Or would it drown to join the mysterious jungle of detritus in the depths? Couldn’t help feeling a bit sad at my clumsiness though. 
Oh sorry for your loss. I feel the same when I accidentally tread on a snail.
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Local fireflies first display of the year - watched it for over half an hour
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Sorry, hopefully will be available after 22.00 CET
A couple of weeks ago I became inundated with houseflies despite keeping the main port of entry closed (the kitchen veranda sliders and at the cost of denying a nice cool through breeze), and they were all a vibrant shade of green. The only way to get them out was hoovering them and I used my hand held one which keeps them alive inside to be liberated later. Problem is it couldn’t cope, its low power meant that it had to be held close and they could see it coming.
So I was forced to get the big gun out, the mains powered one with the long nozzle. Sadly that mashes them as well but needs must. Most of those have gone now but I am instead bothered by a plague of really tiny flies which get everywhere, so small they are difficult to see except when they get on my specs and march about. Much harder to catch so I suppose I will have to wait for the worst autumn can muster to see them off.
Not just the flies, over the last couple of weeks I have been alerted by scratching noises in the bathroom. As I have mentioned before, our house is a prefabricated one built at a local factory and the space between the double skin on the older part is only about 5 cms so I didn’t think there was anything in there and whatever it was must be in the nearby roof space.
However it was very loud so I shoutedf back in my best ‘bugger off’ fashion and thumped the wall with my fist. Whichever it was took no notice so I gave up each time.
Half an hour ago, before going up for my swim. I went into the bathroom for a pee. I was startled to see a full grown loir (dormouse) in the sink. He was as startled as me and jumped up to rest against the tap and then and stare at me with his great big eyes. I gently closed the door and searched for something to catch him in. I settled on a large bucket with a heavy oven tray to keep him in it. Failed, he avoided the bucket and jumped on me then slid down to the floor and ran behind the waste bin. I pulled that out and then he ran up a partition between some shelves and the window frame, I tried to catch him but he jumped onto the window frame. Seizing my chance I tipped the tilt and turn window open. I then touched his bum and, as I hoped, he went through the window and rested on the upper frame. I touche him again and he ran along to the middle.
Trouble was, his paws and tail were over the edge so I couldn’t close it without trapping him, so I searched again for something thin but strong to push through the gap and urge him to depart. I could see why he was reluctant because he didn’t want to fall to the ground, even though it was only a couple of metres. In the end I had to stand on a stool and push my finger through while guarding the corner space so that he couldn’t come back inside. He ran to the corner and, as soon as I saw that he was clear of the frame, I shut the window. He then went head first downwards to the ground and I can only hope that he does not try to repeat the experience. I think the blockage of that hole is the first thing on my list tomorrow. 
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You have saved a (tiny) life! 
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How wonderful. They are so cute.
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We’ve had house martins this year. There was on nest (and a huge mess) with hungry chicks in June, then 2 nests and a second round of babies this time. The babies from one nest fledged at the weekend while we were away, and when we got up this morning there was a fledgling on the window sill from the other nest. I’ve tried taking pictures with the phone, but it’s not really practical and good to get close enough, so you’ll have to imagine.
Hopefully that will be it now this year, and we can clean up the mess before we leave.
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We’ve had the same this year in the UK, we went away for a couple of weeks early June and came back to nesting house martins . They finally departed last weekend , nice to see them but the nest was just above our back door, I put newspaper down so I could clean the mess up easily. Unfortunately for them new soffits are being fitted shortly, so no return next year.
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Not so tiny, this one was at least a foot long including the bushy tail, which gave him away, my first shocked thought was rat, ‘till I saw that and the big eyes.
Never heard that term before and wondered if it was a typo (which I couldn’t fit anything to) ‘till I googled it and discovered what it was. I could do with some soffits myself, might stop the pesky roof visitors, especially if they are going to try and eat my house. 
Talking tiny, what about these tiny flies? They are getting everwhere, I can barely take a bite of anything without inspecting carefully for extra additives. They are the size of a grain of pepper and about the same colour, so small that they can’t be seen unless they move.
Oh dear about the flies.
This may help - identify + eliminate
Our problem is the soffits are going to have to be scribed to fit our Cumbrian sandstone walls, flat they ain’t’! Should give my OH hours of fun🤭. By the way soffit is spelt the same in French with an e added at the end, soffite, just pronounce with a French accent!
As to your little flies, possibly fruit flies? We have loads this year but mostly outside.
All of the flies mentioned there are larger than these little blighters, they are no more than 1mm in size. It just occurred to me that the fact that I throw very little away and thus the 100 litre wheelie bin that I keep in the kitchen and thus rarely empty, might be a breeding ground for them. So I have just lifted the lid and, unlike my usual practice of a very swift ‘lift and chuck’ movement, I held it wide open for several seconds. Not a single fly was either observed or escaped, so it isn’t that. If it was I could move it outside but would of course be less convenient.
As they get on my food perhaps the best way is to ditch any pretentions of vegetarianism and eat the little blighters. 
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Then you’d have to swallow a spider to catch the fly…
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Unlike the spiders, who are my friends incidentally, I don’t need a web, just a round of buttered toast. 
Quite often when I open my kitchen waste bin, about 30 litres or so, small flies appear - I keep thinking of them as fruit flies. But I don’t know what they are.