If both have survived the winter, there are two feral honey bee colonies in the reserve. Feral bees are an important backwater in the Apis mellifera gene pool, busy adapting to the changing environment rather than to the needs of the beekeeping industry.
In March, our honey bees will be clearing out their nest cavities and working to replenish their depleted honey stocks. Here is a video about the way in which individual bees fit into a workforce of tens of thousands.
Buff tailed bumble bees can teach each other to open a puzzle box.
Continue reading “Bumble bee school”
Unlike common wasps, honey bees (Apis mellifera) don’t die at the end of the summer. The hive stores enough food for the queen and the workers to survive through the winter.
Continue reading “Honey bees”
This fluffy bee is Bombas hypnorum, a tree bumblebee, photographed yesterday in the reserve by Clive Knight.
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Bluebells photographed in the reserve on Monday by Cheryl Cronnie.
Continue reading “Bluebells”
Honey bees make a sound that apiarists call piping.
Continue reading “On the eleventh day…”
There are at least two wild honey bee nests in the reserve, high up in hollow old trees. Here is a short video that shows how the bees are adapting their colony and their behaviour to the demands of winter.
On 1st September 2020, the EU’s ban on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides came into effect but investigators have found that eight EU countries and the UK have since exported neonicotinoids to other nations with weaker environmental regulations. These are unacceptable double standards: the companies that produce these dangerous chemicals are prioritising their profits at the expense of our environment.
Continue reading “The return of neonicotinoids”
Unlike common wasps, honey bees (Apis mellifera) don’t die at the end of the summer. The hive stores enough food for the queen and the workers to survive through the winter.
Continue reading “Honey bees”
Bees buzz in two different ways.
Continue reading “BUZZ!”
Ian reports that the bee swarm from the old ash tree at Fiveways seems to have settled into a hole in the tree we call the Owl Box Oak; a second honey bee colony in the reserve is very exciting news.
Read on for even more exciting news
There is a honey bee colony high in the old ash tree at Fiveways. Last week the colony swarmed and Julie Newblé, a regular contributor, was lucky enough to be there with her camera.
Continue reading “Swarm”
by David Feather
It seems as though Marks and Spencer thought that they were the Bees’ Knees by setting up beehives in farms around the country, to produce honey for M&S sale. This is part of their Farming with Nature Programme.
Continue reading “The Bees’ Knees”
If you are planting your flower beds and hanging baskets this weekend, keep our dwindling population of pollinators in mind and please don’t plant double flowers.
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Honey bees make a sound that apiarists call piping.
Continue reading “On the eleventh day…”
Unlike common wasps, honey bees (Apis mellifera) don’t die at the end of the summer. The hive stores enough food for the queen and the workers to survive through the winter.
Continue reading “Honey bees”
This is the cutest thing we have read on the internet for some time.
Continue reading “Small scissor bee”
Bees buzz in two different ways.
Continue reading “BUZZ!”
HOW TO RESCUE A BUMBLEBEE
by Jonah Powers (aged 9½)
When you come across a discouraged exhausted Bombus terrestris (buff tailed bumblebee) here is what you should do.
(1 Mix water and sugar together.
(2 Place some on a flat surface with the bee.
(3 You will notice your bee unfurling her proboscis to consume the liquid
(4 After some time you will discover your bee is becoming more energetic
(5 Now your bee is ready to say “toodle -oo!”
Thank you for contributing to National Insect Week, Jonah.
A honey bee foraging for nectar and pollen among the flowers of hogweed.
Continue reading “Honey bee”
A message and pictures from Julie, regular park-user:
Saw these little mini molehill type structures on the path next to the pond. Under the ones already disturbed there is a little hole. It’s possibly ants or something but thought I’d send them in anyway. Do you know what made them?
Read on to solve the mystery
There are bees out and about: tiny solitary ones like this one photographed in the park last week, as well as big fat buff-tailed bumblebee queens.
Read on for a fascinating fact about bees
If you are planting your flower beds and hanging baskets, keep our dwindling population of pollinators in mind and please don’t plant double flowers.
Continue reading “Double flowers”
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 