Bumblebee anyone?

THRIFTY

Magpye wrote: »

I've only seen one bumbler this year, but it was colossal - so big it scared the cat! Tons of honeybees out on my heather on Sunday though, so nice to see them.

Does anyone have one of those bumblebee houses in their garden? I was thinking about getting one but not sure as they're quite expensive.

we made one out of old bits of wood - make a box with a hole in the front big enough and stuff box loosely with straw/fluff/anything cosy , bung it in a sheltered spot. they seem to like it!

looby-loo_2

Very worrying documentry.

What should we be more scared of - financial meltdown or the fact that bees are dying in their millions? Beekeepers argue that colony collapse disorder is a bigger threat to humanity than any credit crunch and they're marching on Parliament to demand the Government takes action. In an intriguing and revelatory documentary, Martha Kearney explains that bees are the planet's most prolific insect pollinator and should their numbers continue to decline at the current rate, the future of apples, berries, cucumbers, nuts, cabbages, and even cotton, will be put under threat.

KAAT_LADY

pollyskettle wrote: »

Photo of one I found in my kitchen:

this gave me such a fright ...bl00dy heck

kyssyn

Thanks for posting about this, I just finished watching it. I've been considering keeping bees but this documentary has spurned me to act. I've found a local course starting soon so I've asked if I can attend

Beatlefan

kyssyn wrote: »

Thanks for posting about this, I just finished watching it. I've been considering keeping bees but this documentary has spurned me to act. I've found a local course starting soon so I've asked if I can attend

Good on you! good luck with your course.

I've sky + ed the programme to watch later, but very worrying. My little one sent off for some mixed flower seeds from Blue Peter to attract bees and we've ordered some free flowers with the spuds offer from Thompson and Morgan, so hope we're doing a bit to help too.

ceridwen

I've heard this - ie the concerns about the bees - including the comment that "if the bees die - we do too - 4 years later" or words to that effect.

Can any technically-minded person give a direct link to that tv programme please?

Lotus-eater

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00jzjys/Who_Killed_the_Honey_Bee/

Should have been on BBC1, not 4.

At least it does sound like they are getting somewhere with trying to do something with those cleaner bees.

ceridwen

thanks......

ALIBOBSY

We have a local bee keeper near us so our garden is always getting honey bee visits. We plant plenty of bee friendly plants as well.

I suppose on a small scale we could hand pollinate our own food, but the vast majority of people rely on mass grow fruit and veg where hand pollination would not be practical at all, so this is worrying. Mind I noticed last year hardly any bumble bees, but this year shed loads already?

Nature can be a funny old thing and totally unpredicatable, we need to get back to respecting and working with it like we used to.

Mind you feeling very green at the mo as spent the morning in the garden lol.

ali x

drc

There is a long and detailed article about colony collapse in last month's Scientific American. Not sure if you can still get it, but a very interesting read. You might be able to read it online;

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=ccd-search-for-cause