Pollinate enough crops by hand? Would this even bee possible? or would the world starve?
Once read an article when Colony Collapse disorder first began to be taken seriously, that the world would be one big famine within Two years!
www.itv.com/news/meridian/update/2014-06-10/record-your-bee-sightings/
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Colony Collapse Disorder does not happen in the UK..
I cannot count my bees- an estimate would be 300-400,000...
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The spread of the tree bumble bee is interesting. Unknown in UK until a few years ago and now they are spreading everywhere although I don't think they have made it to Scotland yet.
They like to nest in holes in trees as their name implies. They love blue tit next boxes. Only bumble bee with a white tail so easy to recognise.
They aren't agressive but I would say they are rather more assertive than other species of bumble bee especially if you go poking about near their nests. My wife got stung when she chanced upon the first nest in our leaf bin.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27701591
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I like Bumbles! - my Comfrey patch usually flowers early, earlier than most plants, probably due to it's sheltered position. Bumbles love it! and i've spotted at least four different types at the same time on it! - I've seen buff ones, black and yellow ones, white-bummed ones, but none of these tree ones.
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I've a good deal of lavender in my front garden, it's the toughest looking yobbos that scream like little girls at the sight of bees congregating.
I've been stung once in forty years, when I pulled a door handle that had a bee on it.
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This bloke had a load decend on his car
www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/11264363.Swarm_of_bees_hitch_a_ride_on_convertible/
Then he got criticised by his 'unusual' method of getting them off again.
tinyurl.com/o9xjatn - same newspaper.
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It's an especially good year for bees where we live. Lots of bumble bees and the ordinary honey bee.
Plenty of the traditional big bumble bees, the kind that look like a design fault and are barely able to take off.
The smaller ones with fluffy bottoms seem to come in all shades of brown and black, sometimes with a stripe, and have tails of white, yellow, orange or pink.
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Lady in my village had a swarm park in her house. Rang a local beekeeper to see if he would collect and keep them - NO! Had to get the council in who charged £100 to kill and remove them, that's a poor outcome!
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I suppose if they were actually in the house then she had to do something.
We had a swarm which suddenly arrived a few years ago and took up residence in the roof in the void under the overhanging bit of roof ridge by a chimney.
They stayed for the rest of the season, causing no trouble, just coming and going and humming pleasantly, and then as suddenly all moved on again.
Traveller bees, only stopping at authorised sites.
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>> Only bumble bee with a white tail so easy to recognise.
Surely not? Lots of species have white tails. See
bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/identification/common-bumblebees/
for just a few examples.
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You're absolutely right. They are I believe they only ones with the orange, black. white colour scheme I believe. Quite distinctive.
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>> The spread of the tree bumble bee is interesting. Unknown in UK until a few
>> years ago and now they are spreading everywhere although I don't think they have made
>> it to Scotland yet.
>>
>> They like to nest in holes in trees as their name implies. They love blue
>> tit next boxes. Only bumble bee with a white tail so easy to recognise.
>>
>> They aren't agressive but I would say they are rather more assertive than other species
>> of bumble bee especially if you go poking about near their nests. My wife got
>> stung when she chanced upon the first nest in our leaf bin.
I am a swarm collector and tree bumbles are a serious PIA> They also love holes in soffits and hate disturbances - and can be quite aggressive.
I have removed 9 bird boxes full of them so far - at a nominal charge. (£20 vs pest controllers £120+ to kill them) The bees now live contentedly in a wood on waste ground near a water treatment works or in our garden..
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>>nd tree bumbles are a serious PIA>
A PIA to deal with, or a PIA because they're causing harm?
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"A PIA to deal with, or a PIA because they're causing harm? "
We have them buzzing around up in our roof/soffits. I was a bit worried at first but seems they are pretty harmless and colony has a short lifespan (according to Tinternet) They like various flowers (and seem to particularly like my raspberry and strawberry plants which seem to be producing a good crop) so I guess must be doing plenty of pollination which can't be bad can it?
bumblebeeconservation.org/images/uploads/Tree_bee_article.pdf
I like bees!
Don't know much about them but do remember some panic a year or so ago about them dying out and we would no longer get any crops so the human race would die out and it was all due to nicotinoid (??) insect sprays so they banned those. However, head honcho of British beekeepers association was then on radio saying there was no proof that nocotinoid stuff was the problem and it was prob due to a couple of hard winters and if you banned nicotinoid stuff all the bad insects would prevail and crop failures would occur and the human race would die out.
So, there we have it. We will all die in the end.
On the other hand, this might all be rubbish and we will not all die in the end.
Oops, forgot climate disruption - floods and storms will get you anyway, bees or no bees
I know nothing.
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We had a swarm in our attic a few years ago - I've never seen anything quite like it: the walls were black with bees and the noise was incredible. I managed to get some of them out through the Veluxes and then called for the local 'nuisances' expert. He told me not to worry and that they had just followed the queen in and would be gone within a day or two when she moved on. I said (in my best French) 'but I need to be sure they go - my grandsons arrive in a few days'.
He looked me in the eye and said 'what are you worrying about - they don't eat children'.
He was right, within 24 hours all was peace again.
In fact, this year there seem to be many fewer honey bees round here. Some say it's due to the depradations of Asian and other hornets, the numbers of which are growing noticeably.
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>> I like bees!
So do I. They seem gentle creatures just getting on quietly with their lives.
Also peculiarly sensitive to the intentions of the people they encounter. Perhaps Madf can confirm the truth of the belief that an experienced beekeeper can gain their confidence?
When she was very young one of our daughters was especially caring of insects etc that got into difficulties. She would rescue bees from the pond or road, and simply picked the creature up, stroked it gently, and placed it on a leaf out of harm's way.
She had the total fearlessness of the very young, and the bee seemed to sense that. She was never stung.
I remember doing the same with mice and shrews rescued from the cat. I picked it up, cupped in my hands, and released it far away. Now I'm scared of shrews, especially the tiny ones. If I pick one up it rewards me with an agonising and vice-like bite.
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I have seen more bees this year in the garden but I made a determined effort to plant flowers to attract them, along with butterflies and any other wildlife who would like to share my garden with me.
It's a sea of colour at the moment and the scent in the air at daybreak each day when the doors are opened is a delight.
The problem is how do I get toads and newts to come into the pond?
Pat
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Plenty of info here.
www.wildlifegardener.co.uk/attracting-newts-your-wildlife-garden-pond.html
I think the important thing with newts is not to have any fish in your pond.
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>> The problem is how do I get toads and newts to come into the pond?
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>> Pat
>>
You mean you have them around but they are too nervous of entering the water (get in first and tell them the water's lovely :) ), or you want to attract them to the garden?
It's always said of frogs that the way to establish a population is to put in some spawn from another pond. Then the hatched tadpoles/frogs will in turn want to return to spawn to the pond where they grew up. I don't know whether that's really true, but if slugs and snails can home then surely toads can.
I created a series of ponds linked by a diverted stream 28 years ago. The aquatic wildlife just moved in by themselves - even a migrating eel once.
They only live partly in water - toads especially like dry dusty places like coalbunkers or under piles of rocks, and only return to spawn. Newts do tend to stay in the water, but even they can be found all over the garden in odd places.
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I'd be happy to attract them into the garden but I suspect the fish in the pond would eat newts after reading CG's link. It is a large pond but there are an awful lot of 8''-10'' fish in it which seem to breed every year!
We have frogs galore and find them everywhere, but in winter they tend to live under the two waterfall which have bases made of rubble and broken slabs.
I've had a grass snake in there as well but I have a fondness for toads.
It dates back to when I was 5 years old and was wading through the Brussels sprouts planted in our garden behind my Dad who was pulling some for dinner. A toad croaked and jumped up level with my face, it frightened the life out of me but Dad fell about laughing!
Pat
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>> I suspect the fish in the pond would eat newts after reading CG's link.
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Then you can only hope and pray that the fish in your pond don't read Car4play!
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>> I like bees
I can't stand the things. Stems back to being bitten (stung, or whatever they do) on my eyelid when I was a child. In fact the same bee attacked both me and my friend.
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Two bees or not two bees?
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>> >> I like bees
>>
>> I can't stand the things. Stems back to being bitten (stung, or whatever they do)
>> on my eyelid when I was a child. In fact the same bee attacked both
>> me and my friend.
>>
As a honeybee can only sting once - it was either a wasp or a bumble bee. Probably a wasp - which get very aggressive in Autumn..
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>> Probably a wasp
It was too podgy for a wasp.
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Bee survey - madf
