July bee watch

Buzzzz The bee is a wonderful insect, it breaths life into our gardens and is of no real threat to us. It is said that if all the bees in the world disapeared we would face extinction as a human race within six years because nothing would grow without the pollination from bees. Now, I am not sure how true that saying is, but I do know that in our garden we welcome bees and they do a grand job of pollinating all of our plants and vegetables. Many people are frightened of bees as they fear they will sting them and of course it is right to be wary of all insects that can bite or sting. However the risk of being stung is vary small, generally the bees would have to feel threatened and if you leave them alone they will never feel threatened, so just don't get too close. We had a bees nest in our garden this year and was fascinated to watch them about their business every day, never stopping in their work. That took over a small nesting pouch hanging in our Hazel nut tree that is close to our bird feeding station, but they never bothered the birds. We watched them all through the summer until early July, then they disappeared.  As they went so quickly we were naturally curious, so we took down the nesting pouch and opened it up. It was full of yellow maggots - the result of infestation by the 'hive beetle' now, not wanting to miss a recycling opportunity and wishing a deadly fate to these beetles that had stolen our bees young and eaten their nectar. We took the nesting pouch to the hens and tipped the maggots in for them to feast on! and to our surprise, they never touched one of them, now our hens are always hungry and devour anything we give them as a treat. So these maggots must have a threat to the hens, maybe they can grow inside the gut? So that was our experience with the garden bee population this year, it was so lovely watching the bees, we are determined to get a colony again next year, so we will use the Beepole Lodge and buy our own colony of bees, that way we will be sure to have another charming garden visitor. [caption id="attachment_2769" align="alignleft" width="150"] Your own colony of bees in your garden - wonderful.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2770" align="alignleft" width="150"] Bees took over our nest pouch[/caption]