Natural History

Posted in wild dogs, wildlife | Tagged bumblebee | 4 Comments

4 Responses

1. on July 30, 2012 at 6:52 am Peter Dawson

   Now that apis mellifera the honeybee is in such (terminal?) decline, thank heavens we still have the bumble and solitary bees in pretty good order. I watch them with renewed apreciation. As a former beekeeper myself, before the varoa mite appeared as such a problem , it saddens me. Hopefully, one day, honey bees from Australia will repopulate the world. Meanwhile I wonder if exports from Oz will keep up with demand even of just the American industrial scale fruit growers.
   Her in the UK there seems to be a shift in bee populations due to climate change with some species moving north. Anyone studied this particular phenomenon out there?
   Interesting experiments going on with the original dark coloured British race of honeybee to see if it can better resist the problems at least in this country, despite its acknowledged lower rate of honey production. Keeping it isolated from the Italian descended lines must be a challenge.

   
   
2. on July 30, 2012 at 8:01 pm massugu

   In winter I make up up bundles of cut bamboo for our native Blue Orchard Bees–highly efficient pollinators. I could extend their pollination season by also getting some Japanese Hornfaced Bees which occupy the same niche later in the season, but we have such a wealth of native pollinators that I haven’t seen the need.

   
   
3. on July 30, 2012 at 9:30 pm Russell Constable

   I can empathise re the difficulty photographing bees as some wonderful black Hawaiian carpenter bees drove me crazy trying to get an in focus shot this year. Dragonflies are just as hard to automatically focus on too! You did well Scotty

   
   
4. on August 2, 2012 at 12:14 pm Bridget

   “Where have all the bees gone” ? It’s evident something’s wrong with these very valuable guys. All over the world we get news about their loss . Here in Nothern Europe, too. I’ve hardly seen few in the flower meadows, during this summer.

   
   

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