WHAT ABOUT THE HUMBLE BUMBLEBEE?

Last week I checked the bees and two hives needed fondant. Do I go on and on about this? Yes! Why? Because, after last Sunday, when I checked the girls and they were all out flying as if it were a spring day, it has rained solidly for five days. Relentless. Everywhere is like a quagmire. So, what do I see when I go to the apiary, on Sunday, when it was cold, but not raining? Another two hives had eaten all of their fondant supplies, one of which was one of the hives I gave a tub of fondant to only last week and they had licked it clean! Once again, if you’re a new beekeeper and you’ve hefted your hives and thought “they’re fine” - they might not be. Give them some fondant. If they don’t need it they won’t take it, but better to be safe than sorry I say.

On another note, while tending to the needs of Hive No. 2, (that was one of the one’s that needed more fondant), I felt a little tickle on my neck. Strange - I thought - and then I noticed lots of honeybees flying a little too close to my face for comfort. It didn’t take me long to realise I’d forgotten to put my hood up. I walked away, because I didn’t want to disturb the bees flying around my head by reaching back for my hood. Once I was at a safe distance from them and confident they hadn’t followed me, I reached back, and joy of joys, the hood wasn’t there. Of course it wasn’t; I’d washed my suit, and I always handwash the hood and forgotten to re-attach it. A moments pause ensued as I considered closing up the hive and going home to get the rest of my suit. Come on Meriet, be brave little noddy, you can do this. Yes it’s cold. No the bees don’t like being disturbed, but, if I can put this hive back together without being stung then onward and upward without the hood. Anyway, the chances are… none of the other hives will need more food so the bees won’t come out to investigate what I’m doing there in this weather. Boom no hood it is then!

Of course, another hive did need fondant. Should I go back? Nope, I decided to brave it out. Now don’t forget, I’m removing a tub that still has bees in it as they’re taking the very last crystal of sugar, and as soon as I lift the tub off the bees will come up through the hole in the crown board to say, “who’s that behind the mask?” - although in this case I wasn’t wearing one…and…it’s cold so they ain’t gonna be happy bees, I did my mindful breathing, 100% focused on what I was doing, ignoring the buzzing around my head and hey presto not a sting in sight. Good girlies!

Now, I’m just going to say… do not try this at home. Yeh, yeh Erika Thompson @ www.youtube.com/@TexasBeeworks does all of this and much more in a skimpy pair of jeans, open neck shirt and gorgeous blonde hair cascading over one shoulder. Touch of the green devils did I hear you quietly murmer? Well maybe just a tad but mainly for for her confidence. The cascading hair and tight jeans ship sailed long ago! Oh and let’s not forget a cap and glasses… really… check her out. Those bees would have been down the front of my shirt, up my sleeves, in my hair, underneath the peak cap and behind my glasses if that were me!

And so… we move on to the bees. Obviously, as DOUG said, “you’ve set yourself quite a task at this time of year to produce a weekly blog>” DOUG is in bold because he follows my blog… thank you by the way… and came and found me at The Beekeeping Show last Saturday. However, as I told him and his lovely wife, I’m no quitter. Just because there’s not a lot happening doesn’t mean I can’t talk about bees and as he soon discovered, when we met, boy can I talk!

But I’m not going to talk about the honeybees, I thought I’d say a little about our wonderful bumblebees for they are such a wonderful sight in our gardens throughout the spring and summer and in to the early autumn. I call them The Humble Bumbles. Did you know there are 270 species of wild bees in the UK. Twenty four of which are the bumblebees, the other two hundred and forty six are solitary bees. The honeybees, of which there is only one species, aren’t counted in that number because, as you know, honeybees are no longer considered wild in the UK. It is extremely rare to find a native wild honeybee in the UK.

The bumblebees are not like honeybees at all. They don’t live in large colonies. Their queens only survive for one season. They hibernate throughout the winter, lay on their eggs to keep them warm and don’t produce honey, to name but a few differences.

The queen bumble bee hibernates alone in the soil throughout the winter, living off the fat that is stored in her body which provides her with all the energy she needs until the spring. Like the honeybee, as the temperature starts to rise, you will see her emerge from the hole and her first task is to find a nesting site. Bumble bees love bird boxes, the eaves of your house, compost heaps and sometimes can be found under garden sheds.

Once she has restocked herself with nectar to give her energy she will go in search of pollen which she uses, together with wax that she produces herself, to build a mound of wax that she can lay her eggs on. She also builds little pots in front of the mound into which she puts the nectar which she uses for energy as she sits, rather like a bird, on her wax nest, shivering her muscles to keep them warm. After only a few days, the eggs emerge and the queen feeds them on pollen and nectar which she collects from flowers close to her nest. After a couple of weeks each larva spins its own cocoon and the first brood to emerge are all workers/females. These bees work both inside and outside the hive. Once the first brood has been established the queen will lay the next batch and won’t leave the nest again, instead she carries on laying eggs and telling her workers what to do.

When the late summer arrives, the queen stops producing worker bees and starts producing eggs that will turn into new queens and males. Once the males have matured they leave the nest and mostly don’t come back. They don’t collect pollen, instead they spend their time feeding on the nectar from the flowers and looking to mate with a queen. The new queens mate very soon after leaving the nest. Once mated, they feed themselves on pollen and nectar which is stored in their bodies as fat which turns into the energy they need to get them through the winter hibernation.

The old queen stays in her nest and gradually, as the weeks go by, and summer turns into autumn she and what remains in her nest will die.

We have now gone full circle; only the new queens survive underground until the spring appears.

The average bumble bee nest produces about 400 individuals but they can produce as little as 20. I always tell people, once they spot a bumble bee nest, they will probably only be there for another 2/3 weeks, so as long as you’re not in their way and they’re not in yours, pardon the pun, leave them bee!

So there it is, the humble bumblebee who always looks so clumsy and not at all aerodynamic but they always make you smile.

And so, I thought I’d leave you with this sweet little poem. Rather like the bumblebee it made me smile. Who doesn’t smile when they see a bumblebee?

Lovely little bumblebee
what would I do without thee
give me flowers, give me trees
give me a little lovely tease

Lovely little bumblebee
what would I do without thee
love me a little, love me a lot
give me a kiss right on the spot

Lovely little bumblebee
what would I do without thee
for you are what makes me smile
for a million times a mile

I couldn’t find out who wrote this so if you know… please let me know and I will, of course credit them.

* Although I knew most of the information above, I have to thank The Bumblebee Conservation Trust whose website I used for reference for the above in order to ensure that everything I have written is correct.