Topic: Bees...

[Flighty]

love poached egg plant flowers!
[attachment=1]

[Angel]

They sure love Cotoneaster too !!

Mike hope you dont mind me hijacking your thread.

We have a problem with bees..... well not a problem with the bees as such but a problem with the parents/children who attend the school where I work LOL

We have cotoneaster growing up the side of the building, there is a path which runs along side it which is a long narrow access to the gate. The other side is a fence with clematis growing along it.  The problem is the cotoneaster is swarming and I mean swarming with bees, some of which look like young bees.  The parents have been complaining as they are concerned about their children (and themselves) being stung.

Council guys were out cutting the grass last week and they noticed loads of bees in another cotoneaster plant at other side of building, they came in to say we got a nest.  I showed them the ones at the side of the building and they said must be a nest there too.  They wouldnt go near, quoting 'health and safety' !! 

Anyway, my question is......
Do you think there will be a nest under ground or is it just the plant they are attracted to ?  Should we have this plant cut down for the safety of the children?

I dont want any harm to come to the bees !!

[goodlife]

 

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Should we have this plant cut down for the safety of the children?
Absolutely not!..for my opinion it is perfect opportunity to teach children and adult alike few thing about wildlife..
For start with..foraging bees, what ever type, could not care less about humans and don't get 'angry' and 'stingy' unless they feel really threathened. And that is physical contact. Anybody just walking by or even sticking their noses close to them is highly unlikely to get stung ;D Yes, they will make buzz and bit of noise..but that is bees and so they should being living things.
That plant is only going to attract bees for couple of weeks while in flower and then the bees will be looking for some other food source.
The lesson should be..live and let bee..  ;)

[Angel]

I dont think we should cut it down either, but head teacher is in a bit of a flap about the complaints !

So you dont think there is a nest ?   

[goodlife]

Without really seing the site It is inpossible to say if there is a nest or not...quite unlikely..
Honey bees and most of the bumbles would use it as a 'snack bar' and only coming there for forage.
If there would be nest site..they would be solitary bees of some sort..usually nest site under ground and you would see where they going in and out...hollow under slab/stone or root or even gap in brickwork. But those type of bees nests are small, depending of type of bee maybe dozen or two bees maximum.
But I do believe all that buzzing is just foraging bees..they are coming from wide area and found the plant ideal souce of food. Absolutely nothing to worry if not provoked. And that is lesson what all kids should learn..let nature to be undisturbed..its good to observe!!
So what are complains been then...just about buzz?.. ::) Oh dear..there is going to be more complains later on...
Bees are doing grand job with pollination..then the flowers set and in autumn there is loads of berries..so be prepared for "poisonours berries, mess on floor, people slipping over them, broken limbs..." :-X   Health and Safety are going to have to work for their money... ;) ::) Or it is another lesson to be tought to kids and their parents..

[Unwashed]

Lovely photo Flighty, thanks for the post.

I wonder if there's something extra attractive about cotoneasters at the moment.  Mine have always swarned with bees, but I've really noticed it this year.

[Borlotti]

I noticed that yellow plant on an allotment yesterday and wondered what it was, I suppose that they planted it as a border for the bees.  They seem to like my sage, which is flowering, and think I will plant more plants for the bees to enjoy.

[Angel]

They are just afraid ..... They have walked by this plant and were all fine until someone noticed the bees and they set off all the panic  - I have told them that the bees wont bother them if they just walk by but you know what some people are like  >:(

I just want to go in tomorrow armed with some information to win the argument to save the plant and to leave the bees alone.  :)

[Tulipa]

Angel could you contact a local bee keeper and ask them to come and have a look for you, that way you could put people's mind at rest, and maybe also get someone who could come and explain to the children what the bees are doing and how comparatively rarely they sting people.  It could be a good way of the children telling the parents bees are not agressive. You never know the school might be able to use the bees as a topic (assuming it is a primary school?).  Is there a bee-keepers association nearby?

[Robert_Brenchley]

If they're on the flowers then they're visiting the flowers to feed, and if there is a nest nearby it's pure coincidence. Nobody's going to get stung unless they start touching bees.

[tonybloke]

Angel,
ask if they would like to remove all of the plants that honeybees visit?
 ;)

[Angel]

I am not gonna let them cut the plant down. 

Nothing happened today as it was so wet, windy and wild here no bees were about!

They had the weather to complain about instead LOL

[cornykev]

They'll always find something to moan about, maybe you should remind them of some of the disasters that have happened aound the world this year. I had some egg plants given to me this year Flighty, they certainly brighten the place up.  ;D

[Angel]

Plants and Bees still there  ;D

[Flighty]

Thanks everybody!

Angel I don't mind at all that this thread has been hijacked as it has!
As well as poached egg plants I grow lots of other bee loving plants on my plot. A plot neighbour keeps several hives so bees are always buzzing around mine and don't bother me at all providing I don't disturb them. 
People should be educated about them and how important they are, and not destroy their habitats and food sources - http://www.buzzaboutbees.net/

[Angel]

Thanks .... Tea and a kit-kat for you next time you are in chat  :)

[Uncle_Filthster]

It's just typical moronic behaviour by an apathetic and disinterested in the real world around them public.  Britain's got no talent/no factor is far more important you know!  ::)
I used to have to deal with that attitude all of the time in my ranger days (even the teachers weren't much better most of the time for my school groups) and all the clueless idiocy is being passed on to the children.

It really saddens me to see such disinterest and complete lack of knowledge about anything in peoples surroundings that doesn't involve video games and tv.

Personally I'd tell them all to get real, grow a moustache and harden up...along with mentioning there are thousands of bee and wasp species and not all have stings, plus mentioning they are harmless unless you start squeezing them (the only time a bee has stung me).

You'd think I was a miserable old fart from that! (only 35)  ;D