Today I decided to tackle where my rhunbarb sits - have neglected it since planting started and it is now a mass of grasses and thistles. Went at with my clippers and was getting along quite happily until I started to get buzzed by some very angry bumble beas and had to leave them alone before I wind them up further. I think that they may just have their nest in there. Good for pollination - just hope that I can get to those thistles before they flower.
If they were getting upset it's a safe bet they have a nest in there. Away from the nest, they simply wouldn't act like that.
It's nice to know that from a bee man Robert - I am a HUGE fan of bumble bees and I would rather let the weeds grow than disturb them further. :)
I have some very small bumbles nesting under a slab by my pond, I didn't know they were there either till I started cutting stuff back! They were very cross with me! ;D Love watching them flying in and out and zipping round the flowers in my garden. ;D ;D
i like bees and encourage my kids to enjoy them but people around me get quite fearful and these responses get picked up.
Can someone clarify an old myth for me - Do bees sting?
I have heard that they dont and only wasps sting. Also that they can only sting once and then die.
Would like to tell kids the truth!
Bumble bees will sting but only if very seriously provoked. Wasps do sting but again only when provoked. Bumble Bees and Wasps have smooth retractable stings whereas Honey Bees stings are barbed and these are ripped out their bodies after stinging and they die :(. I do not have a problem with any of these insects - I have seen a wasp get to work on caterpillars on a Nasturtian - cleared the plant in minutes, stung them, cut them in half and then carried them off - it was amazing.
I agree that other people pass on their irrational fears about these insects and it really gets on my t**s. I am stung on average twice a year by wasps and it ain't that bad - I can only understand fear from people who are allergic.
We put up bee tubes and they are all full. They are in our main allotment area and from looking at the flowers they are doing a grand job.
Marvellous Portway! ;D
I have the allergic husband type, (to honey bees), but we have just been sitting in the garden with them buzzing all around us! (even got the insect book out to identify them!)
Fearless my OH or just plain bonkers ;D ;D
I love seeing bees and wasps in my garden and on my allotment! They do so much good, and I've only ever been stung once so it seems a fair trade-off.
The British bee is under a great deal of pressure these days, with some species even at risk of extinction due to modern farming practices (I wrote a bit about it on my blog, with links to the info, if anyone's interested - free the bees (http://humanbeaner.blogspot.com/2005/06/free-bees.htm))
My main green manure is red clover as honey bees and the generally more common short tongue bumble beas cannot access the nectar. It relies solely on the generally rarer long tongued bumble bees. The honey bees and the bumble bees compete successfully against long tongue bumble bees for the more widely available shallow nectar reservoirs. Observation has shown that the same may be true of comfrey.
Nothing goes round looking for people to sting; they only do it when provoked, either by handling or by the nest being threatened. I'm not, of course, referrring to biting insects, only to stings in the true sense of the word. Wasps do an enormous amount of good killing off other insects to feed the larvae; weneed bees for pollination. Honey bees do have barbed stings which often remain behind, but this only happens in about half the cases where they sting me, and I suspect it depends how deep the sting goes. The advantage to the bees is that a large animal like us gets a bigger dose as the muscles in the sting go on pumping poison into the wound. I'm not sure how long it takes the de-stinged bee to die but I have seen one flying round foraging normally with no sting.
i think i may have bees nest underneath my shed :) i noticed alot of activity while painting the shed a couple of weeks ago.
can anyone recommend a good book for identifying bees & wasps?
Collins' 'Field Guide to the Insects of Britain and Northern Europe' has most of the common ones. If you want something specialised it gets more difficult. I have 'Bees, Waspsand Allied Insects of the British Isles' by Edward Step; it's comprehensive but very out-of-date (1946), and the pictures were obviously done from dried specimens; in some cases the shape is quite badly distorted. It's easy to get though; there are innumerable copies on Abe Books.
thanks RB :) i'll look out for the 1st one you mentioned
Can anyone tell me whether bumble bees nest in the same place year after year? ???
I have a nest on my plot that is fine where it is this year as I am not attempting that part yet, but next year will be in totally the wrong place, and virtually impossible not to disturb. :'(
Don't want to kill them, just encourage them to find a new home about ten foot from where they are now! ;)
Obviously if they chose a new home each year this will not be a problem ;D
Please Advise
No, they start a new nest every year. The queen survives the winter, and goes looking for a nest site in early spring. Then she starts the nest, and raises the first generation of brood, which aren't very well fed, and are stunted. That's why you get huge bumblebees at first (the queens), and then tiny ones immediately after. As the season continues, the nest grows, and each generation is that bit better fed, and hence bigger. The final generation in autumn get really well fed, and develop into queens. finally the nest dies off, leaving the young queens to overwinter.
Thanks for that Robert. It is a weight off my mind! :D