Preparedness for when

ivyleaf

mardatha wrote: »

They will Ivy - we left Australia and NZ in a bit of a mess, with nowhere to export to. I still feel bad about that.

Me too, I was dismayed when it happened. I remember thinking "but they can't do that!" :eek:

themarsbargirl

Bees need water, they've been dying from lack of water as they tend to drink from puddles (according to what my Dad says). I keep thinking I should find a cheap old plate that I can put out with some water for them.

We have feral bees living in a tree in our garden and I've seen one or two buzzing around all winter.

moneyistooshorttomention

Puddles for bees to drink from = now that is something I think is in plentiful supply round here normally:rotfl:.

Suitable flowers for them = will be doing soon.

Is there anything else that is on the Rightmove homes-to-rent wishlist for bees?:)

[Deleted User]

How lovely, I loved the wild bees nest that used to be in a tree along one of the lanes, unfortunately it came down in a gale a few years ago and now the bees are gone. We did have a wild swarm come down in our garden a couple of years ago though, aren't they dark in colour compared to regular honey bees? Good information about water and bees MBG thank you for that, it might be that we are lacking bees due to the fact that we filled in the garden pond when the side collapsed last year, also a safety precaution as we now have the grandson. I will find something like an old plate with a lip to allow them to walk down to the water safely and keep it filled in the garden for them, many thanks and from the bees too!

thriftwizard

We have wild bees living in an ancient roll of carpet behind the garage. It's all overgrown with ivy etc. & Him Indoors was just about to haul it out to go do the dump when he realised where the bees were coming from & going to. So there they've stayed. They are a fair bit darker than "normal" bees but seem to do a good job of pollinating & aren't at all aggressive. There are a number of these around & about, and a number of bumble bees in a variety of sizes & stripes, but only a few of the lighter honeybees. I keep an old frisbee full of water beside the chicken run for the odd escapee; I expect that's where the bees are drinking as the pond edges are very exposed.

I'm pleased to see hoverflies back again this year, though; they've been absent from our garden for a number of years. And I spotted a couple of ladybirds on my currant bushes this week too.

boultdj

Well that explanes why I keep seeing the bees near the bird bath and the water tray's for the plants, as well as the flowers for the nector delibratly, I'v been doing the right thing with the water by accident. :-]

Mojoworking

I think people can be territorial wherever you are. I am southern originally and have some traces of an accent. I was working in a northern city hospital still in England when someone said "you should go home and stop taking our jobs" in front of a group of men and there was much rowdy agreement.

I let it die down smiled sweetly and said "ok. Where is your wife from again?" There was an uncomfortable silence and he muttered "south africa" and I left him being barracked by the crowd. People are quick to move fhe goal posts to suit themselves eh!

moneyistooshorttomention

True.

I wouldn't have had a hope in hell of being "territorial" in my home area - as the only people that I knew that were locals like myself were some of my work colleagues. Everyone/but everyone that I met outside work was from a different area or different country. It astonished me that I knew so few other locals actually.

I didn't blame incomers personally for being incomers. I darn well joined in criticising our local Council for all their efforts to attract everyone they could think of to move into the area though:( and (like most locals) would have loved to give that Council a piece of my mind about it.

Hence I find it very odd to have what is the odd few people treat like me an "outsider" here. Thankfully it is only the very odd few that do though and we mostly "mix and match" fine and the only noticeable problem is that anyone applying for public sector jobs in "welsh" Wales will probably not get them, even if they are the best-qualified person for them (unless they speak Welsh as well as having the necessary qualifications and experience).

The only effect I notice personally is that I had every intention of learning Welsh when I came here - but that "public sector language bar" and odd few things that are written in Welsh only has caused me to change my mind and I wont be learning it now because of that. When the language bar has gone and everything is in either English or both languages = then I will resume learning the language.

GreyQueen

Good to see you posting again, elaine, and here's hoping you're well on the way to recovery. And a thousand thanks for the temperature info about bee activity, this was something I did not know.

And I must find a shallow receptacle to use of the allotment as a bee watering point. Do people think that the plastic drip trays which go under flowerpots would be too deep? I have 2-3 of those going begging in the shed.

Went to the allotment for a few hours and was slightly saddened to find the howling winds yesterday had snapped off a dozen of the autumn-sown broadbeans (about 2-3 ft tall) at ground level. Have belatedly staked and strung that bean patch, and the spring broadbeans, although that is pre-emptive as those are only about 6 inches tall atm.

Have liberated the red onion patch from the weeds and shown various other areas of the plot some Cold Steel Action - just call me a durdy hoe.:p

Am now prepping for the workweek, with soup and breadmaking. Going to be Out both Mon and Tues evenings, so will need to have everything running smoothly at the homestead.

Perplexed_Pineapple

Evening all. Haven't had time for more than a brief glance at the last couple of pages but this caught my eye:

nuatha wrote: »

The last invasion of Britain was the Normans.


When injustices are perpetuated down the generations then its difficult to draw that line.

IMO the last invasion of Britain was the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688 when William of Orange, a hard-bitten European politician turned up with 40,000 heavily armed Dutch mates and took over the government. The fact that the incumbent king, James II was as about as popular as a !!!!! in a nunnery didn't make it legal or justified. Which goes to show, you can choose the history you want to support your point of view, as all politicians do. In which respect the current bunch are no better and no worse than their predecessors.