Bees

peter_the_piper

Has anyone else noticed how many more bees there seem to be this year. We have loads of various types of bumbles and other bees, great to see them.

Sunnyday

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Has anyone else noticed how many more bees there seem to be this year. We have loads of various types of bumbles and other bees, great to see them.

I`ve seen quite a few types already, i love to see them. I can`t seem to be able to teach the dog to stop eating them though :mad:
Thankfully its only one every few days now. The neighbours must think i`m barmy shouting "leave it" every few minutes.

We have tawny mining bees living in the front garden where the dog can`t get to them and they are great to watch and so pretty with their bright colours.

SD

lostinrates

we have mining bees too. They were tremndous a few weeks ago but not so much now, thank fully, I got a few stings as they were where I was working. the bumble bees are fantastic. One of the bonuses of living in an organic area is also LOADS of ladybirds.

cootambear

tons of bees farming my strawbs
wasp nest opposite, thankfully leaving me alone, though that my change in autumn when they get p!ssed on rotting fruit and attack randomly
and !!!!!! a hornet nest
its in a neighbours house, otherwise I would napalm the fckers

3v3

I have two bee colonies in my compost bin; little bumble bees

peter_the_piper

Loads of ladybirds and various types of wasps as well. At last some sparrows nesting in a shed, bees nests in boxes and walls, swallows looking for a home, blue tits in a nest box, great tits and dunnocks in the Montana. Getting quite lively around here.

ladylouise62

I was just discussing this with a friend in another part of the country. I would have thought that the rather cold winter would have done for a few of them, but they do seem to be a lot more prolific. Hopefully this is an ongoing trend as it should give us all a shed-load of produce :-)

Parva

I've had to seal my loft hatch having been faced with 3-4 bees daily. I looked in the loft and couldn't see the nest but it's definitely there as I can hear them scratching at the loft hatch that's now sealed.

Now I don't know what variety mine are (all black with a white 'tail') but they are at least bees and not ruddy wasps. Research leads me to believe that they won't be back once summer's gone. I certainly hope not anyway....

Lotus-eater

Parva wrote: »

I've had to seal my loft hatch having been faced with 3-4 bees daily. I looked in the loft and couldn't see the nest but it's definitely there as I can hear them scratching at the loft hatch that's now sealed.

Now I don't know what variety mine are (all black with a white 'tail') but they are at least bees and not ruddy wasps. Research leads me to believe that they won't be back once summer's gone. I certainly hope not anyway....

That will be bumble bees, the nest should die out by the really cold weather at the latest. They won't be back to use the same nest, but there's no reason why they won't be back to use the same space.

Presumably you are a gardener as you are on this forum, so be happy that you have extra help pollinating your garden this year. Some people go out and buy bumblebee nest like this.

Scotsbride

I've see lots of diffrent bees. I'm to keep planting bee friendly plants like nepeta and only using things on pests when absolutely necessary.

Parva

Lotus-eater wrote: »

That will be bumble bees, the nest should die out by the really cold weather at the latest. They won't be back to use the same nest, but there's no reason why they won't be back to use the same space.

Presumably you are a gardener as you are on this forum, so be happy that you have extra help pollinating your garden this year. Some people go out and buy bumblebee nest like this.

A gardener I most certainly am not, I hate gardening with a passion and only stumbled in here due to my bee 'issue'. Thank you for confirming my research on whether they will or will not return though, just pot luck on whether or not they choose to make their summer home in my roof space.

On the plus side I've finally sealed up the cold draught that came down from the loft space so I may actually reap some dividends during the upcoming winter.