Topic: Bees not many around

[Eristic]

I'm in the process of making a skep as therapy while I wait for the kettle to boil in the shed. Don't have a clue what I'll do with it when it's finished. Probably use it to stop the strawberries evaporating.

[Kea]

I was looking at the hawthorn at the allotment  (couldn't see much after that as i am allergic to it!) yesterday while passing to get water and I didn't see a single bee on it.
I have seen a lot of bumble bee's, most of them red tailed ones, at home in my Cerinthe which they love.

There is a Bumblebee survey which was mentioned in Gardener's World magazine this month http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/surveys.htm which you may like to contribute to.

[tonybloke]

seen on my 'Bocking 14' Comfrey today
[attachment=1]

[Sparkly]

There was a program on the TV the other day called "Who killed the honey bee?". Was interesting. You can view it on iplayer if you are interested. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00jzjys/Who_Killed_the_Honey_Bee/

[camo_lady]

Got loads of them.. various species.  The kids are going to be pressed into making 'homes' for those at the allotment and the houses.

Janval

[betula]

I saw that programme.

So far I have seen quite a few bees on the plot so fingers crossed.

I have sown a lot of flower seed to help attract them too :)

[ceres]

No shortage on my plot.  I have thyme planted as ground cover under the apple tree and it's flowering now  - was thick with bees yesterday.  Bocking 14 comfrey behind the shed is also flowering and covered in bees.  They keep getting lost and following me into the shed.  Got got poached egg plants down both sides of the plot and phacelia in still empty beds all alive with bee activity.

[hopalong]

Not a major problem for us either. My thyme is swarming with bees, large and small, too.  They also like the rosemary and angelica.  The poached egg plants and nasturtiums should help too, once they start flowering.

We have a couple of plot holders who have designed their plots with bees in mind, in the hope that they will then spread around the entire site. They've got a lot of borage and nettles which they say are attracting lots of bees.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Borage will certainly attract them. Bumblebees will visit deadnettle, but stingers, however useful for other insects, are of no interest to bees.

[betula]

Borage will certainly attract them. Bumblebees will visit deadnettle, but stingers, however useful for other insects, are of no interest to bees.

I note that you used the word stingers.

Is that a brummie midland word or is it nationwide because you rarely see it used now.

[triffid]

*touching wood here... *  ... The bees that we managed to get through winter are doing well. In fact, we need to find a home somewhere nearby for a couple of colonies which have outgrown our back garden! Like most beekeepers though, we had bad losses through 2008. 2007 was pretty dire too, except for a wonderful spring.

A word of hope: we have lots of new beekeepers -- courses all around the country run by BBKA (British Beekeepers' Association) branches are over-subscribed. The shortage is the bees themselves.  :(
 
For anyone who wants to plant 'bee-food' plants, here's a really nice list and explanation from the RHS.
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Learning/Research/biodiversity/plantsforbees.htm
Aim if you can to lengthen your garden/ lottie's flowering season at either end of the year, so you have useful plants in flower by February (especially pollen-bearers such as hellebores, snowdrops and willow)... and still have bee-forage available late into autumn, for bees to top-up stores for winter.
 
Bees in urban or suburban areas now often do better than many of their country cousins because there are pollen- and nectar-bearing flowers growing through a far longer part of the year. (Bring back country hedgerows, with all their blackthorn, brambles, teasels and ivy!)


Angle shades -- sorry about your silent garden. Keep planting -- the bees will come. And if your hardy geraniums are what I think (ie. cranesbills, not pelargoniums) they're a fine bee flower; so are forget-me-nots.
Wish I lived closer; I have to find new homes for some of my bees.  :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've always called nettles 'stingers', but I'm not sure where the term comes from. I think I picked it up off my father, and I've no idea where he got it from.

[manicscousers]

few of these around today  ;D

[Sinbad7]

Eristic, did you make your 'Skep'?

Loads of bees here.

[Eristic]

Eristic, did you make your 'Skep'?

Not finished yet, there is only so much tea a man can drink. It's currently about 12" high and a bit lop sided but it is starting to look something like what I imagine they should be. Trouble is I do not know what the proper size they are meant to be but it keeps me occupied.

[Robert_Brenchley]

They vary enormously in size, or they did in the old days anyway. These days the ones I see are much of a muchness. I've heard tell of skeps a foot across, and 'bushel' skeps, which have to have been a lot bigger as they housed really powerful colonies. They could be extended as well, either by 'ekes', which went on top, with the bees gaining access though a hole in the top of the original skep, or 'nadirs', which were wide rings which went underneath. If you reckon to make it eighteen inches across, a foot high, and strong enough to stand on, you won't be far out!

[Ninnyscrops.]

Managed a piccy of this one today, loads on the aquilegias, not sure if it's a white tail or a buff tail

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t87/ninnyscrops/DSCF1985.jpg

[Tyke]

Quite a lot of bees in garden today on alliums, geraniums and blueberries....

[Emagggie]

Happy to say lots on the plot today, especially around the comfrey and plenty buzzing at home too. ;D

[Sinbad7]

I read an interesting article on 'skeps' it said they should be 15" wide and a foot long.

Tea drinking day today Eristic I've drunk about a gallon of it  ;D