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Out walking today and I went past about 600x10mt of wild grass and flowers thistle foxglove ect. I slowly walked past and out of interest started to count how many bees I could spot.
Answer 2 .
so I added butterflies to the mix as there was lots of stingers at the back
So 600*10mt of very green and flowering land I spotted 2 bees and 12 assorted butterflies.
I'm in a semi rural area how many bees are your area . I'm curious now
Nowhere near the number we used to have - our bee boxes used to be full: no more. 🙁
A swarm of honey bees just made a nest in our wall Monday so thousands and thousands.
Usually just in the garden always see a few flying round pre our new neighbours arriving.
Within 1 mile of city centre Leeds.
Someone is coming with a big hoover next week to take them all to re-home them.
Oh yes, we did have a swarm of honeybees go over a few weeks back then take up residence in next door's chimney but bumblebee numbers right down.
Meanwhile HMG decided it would be an excellent plan to allow 'emergency' neonicotinoid use in 2024, for the fourth year running.
One of the reasons I was counting is because there are non in our garden we had miner and leaf cutters nesting in the hotels but they have gone no honey or bumblebee activity.
We do have loads of Lady bugs and the frogs are doing ok
Where in the country are you?
Warwickshire dude
We read the instructions for our bee hotel and moved into a sunny, sheltered spot. We have then had the pleasure of watching Mason bees slowly but steadily filling in the holes after laying their eggs 🙂
By all accounts we then need to protect it from the wasps.
And Mason bees are apparently awesome pollinators.
Brighouse, West Yorkshire.
Rochdale.
Haven't seen any wasps yet either, which are also pollinators.
Ive seen very, very few in and around the garden this year. But I walked past the local church late yesterday evening and saw a swarm on the stonework; they'd emerged from a ventilation hole in the stone which has sheltered an active colony for the last several years.
A swarm flew over my head at work yesterday, I heard them first, I thought it was a drone!
Numbers definitely seem down this year, butterflies are drastically down too. Numerous possible reasons including the very wet last 8 months we’ve had, and of course pesticide use.
Just had 2 in the shower cubicle in the bathroom, in the space of under 3 minutes (through the open window). Honey bees.
Guided back out gently.
(Tho I can't verify that it wasn't the same one twice)
Loads in my garden. I have to keep a set of ladders in the conservatory to get them out on a daily basis. Bumbles, solitary bees, hornets, freaky looking wasps with long tails - all sorts. And honeybees of course because I have six hives at the bottom of the garden. There's also a bumble nest under the shed and mining bees in several parts of the law, plus solitary bees in the lime mortar.
I've barely seen any bees... Halifax skirtcoat green area. Garden is usually a hive of activity this time of year too. Very concerning.
1300 in my garage.
(just the one 27.5" bike)
And on a less flippant note, our allotment is showing no signs of a failure of pollination. Bursting with ripening fruit and veg.
there's been an awful lot of guff spouted lately about bee numbers by the usual politically motivated doom merchants <evil Tories poisoning OUR BEES> but as usual the truth is somewhat adjacent... https://www.apicultural.co.uk/exponential-increase-in-global-honey-bee-populations-as-a-driver-of-wild-bee-declines
We've got, or had, mason bees living in the garden wall next to the kitchen. As a result last year the house was full of lost mason bees and I had to rescue several bees per day for around a month, this year I've rescued one
Our compost heap/container thingy is full of bees.
(So lawn clippings etc go elsewhere now)
Which sort of sounds like my hovercraft is full of eels.
The elderflower tree is also full of bees, the iris plants in the pond are just one big buzz.
i think all the bees must be in Reading, It is known for the 3 Bees after all.
Loads of different bumblebees in our garden (Glasgow). They seem to love a particularly boring looking bush with very tiny buds outside the kitchen window. Love watching them.
A couple of summers ago we had tree bumblebees in the loft. They were awesome.
Answer 2 .
The answer is partly (and counter intuitively) the rise in the numbers of bees. Honey bees compete for resources just like any other animal, and in comparison to solitary or other species of bees that don't hive as cooperatively they're very good at harvesting local resources. If you don't see as many solitary bees that you used to, it's probs because there's a honey bee hive locally.
I've just been told that our carpenter bees have moved back into the old nest box. Apparently objected to the lawnmower being run around yesterday, bumping the shed the nest box is mounted on.
Just been in the garden. It's alive with countless bees of all different sorts. Great to see.
Same here.
The sun is out, the buddleia is flowering, as is the scabious, salvia, verbina, ragwort (in the wild bit) and bit of clover. Many bees in our garden and even a few butterflies.
A bug hotel is good for certain bees.
Yep, we still have the Buff Tail Bumble bees in the composter and Carpenter bees in the Elderflower (I think).
We were tidying the garden a bit until Oh found a Median Wasp nest, which was sort of amusing. Once we’d identified they weren’t Hornets.
Hedgehogs occasionally make an appearance.
Decent variety of butterflies too. It’s a pretty small garden but we’ve left it quite wild the last couple of years.
A couple of summers ago we had tree bumblebees in the loft. They were awesome.
Only 3?
Very few bees, fewer wasps this year, not many cabbage white and the various red/orange/black butterflies
I have seen loads of speckled brown butterflies around the country paths
Thousands of them...and thousands of butterflies (and lots of hummingbird moths). The joy of living in rural SW France in a department mainly comprising of small family farms; not the huge endless fields of wheat/barley etc, seemingly little use of pesticides and lots of smallholders with a beevive or two. Wonderful
I see a few bumblebees, white, buff tailed, garden, common carder everywhere in my garden however the transects I walk have been poor so far this year
I've had one butterfly and one wasp in my house this year, in the last week to be specific, this is in galloway with fields to two sides of me and my wee patch of front garden has been left to go feral with wild flowers. loads of flying ants in the past few days though - they must have the shittiest flight engineers possible as they seem to spend most of the day just crawling around inside my house.
Loads on our lavender in Derbyshire. Just wish our westie would stop trying to bite them ?
Nowhere near as many as usual and haven't seen a single wasp so far this year
Next door have a honey bee swarm in their chimney which has been there for a while as the bee man couldn’t get it out.
Some bumblebees but fewer than normal, and I’ve not seen any wasps. Apparently all due to the wet winter/spring?
Quite a few painted ladies and peacocks in our garden this afternoon.
Was strimming the lawn earlier (tells you all you need to know) and hit a clump that turned out to be the top of a bumblebee nest! Poor wee buggers never even reacted, not sure if I clocked one but I moved a load of cuttings to the nest for them to rebury it (was fascinating watching them work). All covered now but still some buzzing about around dusk, there's a thunderstorm due in the morning, thinking about putting a broken pot or a propped up pot base over it to give them time to get sorted.
It's definitely picked up for bumblebees butterflies are still lacking but about.
I have self seeded nasturtium that I've let go mad and they have been absolutely devoured by cabbage white caterpillars so that's helping.
The frogs are doing well too.No wasps have been seen so far and they normally love my apple tree.
For a number of years I get buff-tailed bumblebees using the broken away bottom of one of my sheds as a nest, but they’ve upped their game this year and I’ve got a colony of them nesting there, I’ve had them buzzing past my head when I’ve been sorting stuff out in the garden, and they’ve been coming and going five or six at a time, almost bumping into each other, it’s been great fun to watch them! My raspberries second crop has been benefiting especially well!
Not great photos, but they’re tricky little things to photograph, they don’t give you much warning when they come and go…
No wasps have been seen so far and they normally love my apple tree.
I haven’t seen many wasps this year, but I woke up early this morning, and I could hear an odd noise, checked behind my bedroom curtain and there was a wasp desperately trying to get through my double glazing, so I opened the window and let it out, then earlier this evening I was water all my pots and stuff, and I saw something on my raspberry flowers that looked too big for a honeybee, and it was a wasp, acting as a pollinator.
“It’s a bumblybee, Yogi!”
something honeybees something ...
but from grimep's own, rather supercilious link:
Wild bees have recently been proven to perform the bulk of commercial crop pollination and current best estimates are that overall honey bees are only responsible for 30% of insect dependant crop pollination in the UK. There are also individuals and organisations with financial interests in honey bees who whilst aware of the situation perpetuate honey bees in danger messages and encourage more urban hives for their financial gain.
The decline in wild bees has serious implications for agriculture and ecosystems services.
neighbours have lots of honey bees in their porch. I'm a bit concerned their landlord will take a shortcut and try to kill them all, rather than have them removed, but they're still there at the moment. he'll need to take the porch roof down to get at them anyway so hopefully he'll just get a proper job done and have them relocated.
lots of bumble bee of various types, not too many wasps as I've managed to discourage nesting this spring by coating every possible entrance with WD40!
a ton of midgies and mossies but I don't think they count.