Bee-pollinated plants

Here's a fill-up-the-internet clickbait article, https://www.insider.com/foods-we-will-lose-if-bees-go-extinct

To save you the effort, the foods listed are: avocado, alfalfa, almonds, apples, anise, apricot, blackberries, blueberries, cacao, cantaloupe, cardamom, cashew, cherries, coffee, coriander, cucumber, grapefruit, kiwi, macadamia, mango, peaches, pears, pumpkins, raspberries, strawberries, tea, tomatoes, watermelon.

I'm pretty sure the list is incorrect. Take a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crop_plants_pollinated_by_bees

Five hundred million bees found dead in Brazil

OK, another Pesticides Are Bad story: https://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/500-million-bees-found-dead-in-brazil/

Like the argument over global warming, even though much of the data may be inaccurate or presented in a biased manner, the basic premise could still be correct. At the junction of reason and emotion, choose your route.

Put another way, "I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that." [Dr Ben Goldacre]

HoneyBeeSuite

More than you'll ever want to know about everything: https://www.honeybeesuite.com/

Sulfoxaflor is toxic for insects already dealing with global pollinator collapse

If you can get past the anguished hyperbole, there's some good reading about Sulfoxaflor [aka Isoclast, Closer and Transform] https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2019/pesticide-sulfoxaflor-beekeepers-sue-trump-epa

I'd also recommend reading the wiki entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfoxaflor

CHRIS JORDAN-BLOCH / EARTHJUSTICEhttp://www.chrisjordanbloch.com/

Wasps: If you can't love them, at least admire them

Nice article here, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49692974  I like the phrase from Dr Gavin Broad, "Bees are just furry wasps that turned vegetarian."

Modern stereotypes - uncomfortably accurate!

It's hip to bee...

"Beekeeping has gone from humble to haute," says the article intro. 

ES magazine, 20 September, by Clara Strunck

Ceremonial bees --oops!

https://twitter.com/DailySabah/status/1175043132045561856?s=09

Bee pee?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Beekeeping/comments/d6aiy6/is_this_real/ ?

Chain Bridge Honey Farm TD15 2XT

Chain Bridge Honey Farm
 www.chainbridgehoney.co.uk

Jack Daniel's gets in on the act

Just came across Bee Culture, The Magazine of American Beekeeping. Totally. Awesome.

https://www.beeculture.com/

Yield 2019

This year's weather was generally unkind to my bees - hot one day, cold and and wet the next. However, a warm end-of-summer worked out well, with an estimated 20kg honey yield/hive.

Happy Days!

Apparently, honey bees possess the concepts 'happy' and 'sad': https://www.newsweek.com/honey-bees-happy-sad-scientists-1458562

Male honeybees blind the queen bee during sex by injecting her with toxins

A new study by researchers from the University of California, Riverdale, has revealed that male bees inject toxins during sex to temporarily blind the queen bee...

Image: BARBARA BAER-IMHOFF / UCR from https://www.mirror.co.uk/science/male-honeybees-blind-queen-bee-19942655

https://www.mirror.co.uk/science/male-honeybees-blind-queen-bee-19942655

Asian hornet, Vespa velutina

Another UK sighting:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/asian-hornet-uk-sightings-in-2018

Bananas for bees

A fascinating post from https://blythewoodbeecompany.com/put-down-that-banana-beekeeper/, describing how the chemicals in bananas match the main alarm pheromone in bees : isoamyl acetate.

 

In it for the honey

I quite enjoyed this article: https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/the-ancient-art-of-beekeeping-in-it-for-the-honey-2120505.html

Beekeeping is booming. Christopher Hirst looks at why hives are such a hit
Saturday 30 October 2010 00:00

Bees at Fortnum & Mason

https://www.fortnumandmason.com/fortnums/things-you-never-knew-about-honey

Short shrift for shorts beekeeping

From https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-06/beekeeper-sam-curtis/7302738

May I remind you that bees tend to walk upwards, particularly into dark spaces.
Not a comfortable thought

Alnwick Gardens

Impressive, soulless, gardens. No bees.

Mead

Promise, large Promise, is the soul of an Advertisement.Samuel Johnson, 1759, in his own magazine called The Idler!

How much does a jar of honey cost?

For the 227 g pots, £8.50 per lb, or (bizarrely) the 340 g pots
come to slightly more, at £9.03 per lb

Mead. Yuk.

There must be a better use of honey. Like honey, for example...

How much does a jar of honey cost?

Well, I dunno, as I cannot see a weight on this pot. I think these are 227 g,
which brings them in at £24/kg, or £10.88/lb

Asian Hornet Hunters

https://www.itv.com/news/channel/2019-08-27/asian-hornet-hunters-dissect-nests-to-find-out-more-about-species/

Apiguard

I also have MAQS, but they smell so strong I chickened out and went back to Apiguard

AFB in Wales

Gruffydd Rees says destroying his hive was one of the hardest things he's had to do

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-49365140

Wimbledon Honey

Found this very nice-looking site, https://www.wimbledonhoney.co.uk/ - these guys must be near me. The video includes a shot of the beekeeper wearing the world's dirtiest gloves.

Waspery in Jersey

https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2019/08/13/ramp-built-on-beach-to-access-asian-hornet-nest/

Buddleia and bumbles

Buddleia was brought to the UK around 1730 and now grows on almost every railway embankment in the country, much to the delight of butterflies and bees.

Bombus terrestris, at a guess

Cambridge Botanical Gardens

Cambridge Botanical Gardens

Roses are red, Lavender is [rather obviously not] blue

At Mayfield Lavender Farm, Banstead.. The place was heaving with honey and bumble bees - not that you can see them in this rotten video of mine. The bumbles were particularly big & beautiful.

Lavender is very obviously not blue.

Vespa crabro

In Greece I kept an eye out for Vespa velutina - none seen. Plenty of big, beautiful European hornets, Vespa crabro, though - they really are amazing beasties!

Pic from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AD2009Aug08_Vespa_crabro_01.jpg

Vespa velutina

I found this on https://www.vespavelutina.co.uk/vespavelutinanews/amazing-video-showing-the-distinct-aggression-of-the-vespa-velutina-attacking-honey-bees

It's All Greek To Me

Hives spotted in Agios Panteleimonas

How much does a jar of honey cost?

In Kerkira Airport, duty-free, €3.80/120g, or €31.67 per kg - nice work if you can get it.

It's All Greek To Me (How much does a jar of honey cost?)

...and here is the beekeeper, selling honey at €8 for 0.5 kg. The honey tasted heavily of pine, or possibly thyme

It's All Greek To Me

A few shots from a local beekeeper's apiary in Corfu. It was about 35C in the shade.

How much does a jar of honey cost?

Selling at €10.00 for 500g in down-town Kerkyra, Greece

A swarm in July ain't worth a fly

Spa Hill Allotments

Beekeeping in Corfu

Corfu

Enormous swarm of bees causes 'panic' in Limerick

Why is 'panic' in inverted commas? Anyway, here's the enormous swarm: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/crazy-swarm-of-bees-in-limerick-captured-on-camera-1.3952725

I like this bit from the article: "It is understood two local beekeepers arrived soon afterwards to retrieve the bees which are becoming an endangered species across Europe."

Really?

I don't normally wear my hair this long. Pic from https://www.aier.org/article/anatomy-moral-panic

London Wildlife Trust: methinks it looks like a badger

Idling through the back passages of the internet, I came across https://www.wildlondon.org.uk/wildlife/species-explorer/animal/invertebrates/bees-and-wasps

The Bee Wolf (Philanthus triangulum) apparently hunts honey bees

Where's Wally this summer?

Here: http://www.mrhoney.eu/content/aboutusEN

How much does a jar of honey cost?

A tidy £14.99 for 500g, or £13.61 per lb in old money.

https://theorienthoney.co.uk/shop/

Swarm Silly Season is back again

Killer bees

I think this article has been recycled more than Thames water: Those honeybees you’re so worried about? They’re killing off wild bee species

https://grist.org/article/those-honeybees-youre-so-worried-about-theyre-killing-off-wild-bee-species/

https://www.salon.com/2019/07/07/those-honeybees-youre-so-worried-about-theyre-killing-off-wild-bee-species_partner/

Swarmery

There are so many videos Out There it's a shame to pick just one juicy morsel...

Death in Paradise

Now I'm a huge fan of the US in general ... but something seems amiss:

https://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/41532/20190621/us-beekeepers-lost-over-40-of-colonies-last-year-highest-winter-losses-ever-recorded.htm

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/08/us/honey-bee-colony-loss-trnd/index.html

Asian hornet

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/asian-hornet-identified-in-south-hampshire

How much does a jar of honey cost?

A cool £28/kg, or £13.08 for 1 lb

Weather swings, again

With Paris, France, sweltering in 40+C, the apiary in Wimbledon has finally made it to the low twenties.

And in other news...

Weather swings

The temp has lurched from 14C to 24C in just a couple of days, and the bees are bringing on queen cells like no tomorrow. I'm guessing that the wet weather preceding means that the flowers' nectaries are full, and the bees are going crazy. Here's that Pagden again:

Image from the very informative http://killowen.com/swarmcontrol.html

Bee Simulator

Rather obviously, I am one of the last people to discover the Bee Simulator game.

The name reminds me of Fee Waybill's remark about simulated Indian beaver fur: "They don't have beavers in India, so they have to simulate them."

Maybe that's it: I'm simulating being a beekeeper.

Rather you than me: Indian woman covers her face with hundreds of bees to raise conservation awareness

I realize I am a scaredy-cat, but you won't catch me doing this. Well, not deliberately.

If only my frames came out neatly labelled like this...

If I knew who made the photo, I'd give the credit!