Bees

[raysparx1]

Have you all noticed that not many bees are about this year? I know there is a disease killing some of them, apart from a lack of honey from the honey bees, what would happen to the world if suddenly all bees died? I find this thought very scary, as they do so much for the enviroment, would the world grind to a halt?

[China Doll]

Hi Ray,

I have to admit I've not looked but in all seriousness, how many bee keepers did you know around the Peckham Green area?! Can you imagine? Would be funny though.

I think a lot of this is down to climate change. When I was living in Guildford i swear to God the bugs (spiders, beetles) we got round there on a hot day were stupidly big, like you'd see in the Med. And we had some of those noisy bugs you get in the Med that I never ever hear around London. However, while I've notcied bugs getting bigger in size,I've also noticed a shortage of other insects that are not so robust when temperatiures are erratic. Such as butterflies, bees and even wasps.

I wonder if the decrease also had something to do with those halequin ladybirds we were talking about a while ago?

[webbo3]

According to this mankind would only have 4 years left .

http://www.guardianbooks.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stor es/servlet/product_10401_25501_126224_?cm_mmc= Google%20Adwords-_-Google-_-bees%20society-_-A %20World%20Without%20Bees&gclid=COuM6qzjyZQCFQ Eq1Aod9hgUlA


Dave.

[yogasun]

Hi again!
Butterflies !
On a recent walk a friend of ours saw:-

Large White, Small White, Small Skipper, Large Skipper, Meadow Brown, Red Admiral, White Admiral (!!!), Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Silver Studded Blue, Common Blue, Ringlet, Gatekeeper and Small Heath.
He is good on butterflies so that will be accurate, he has photos to prove it!
They are declining though generally - our buddleia is devoid of any so far. :-((

[jno]

mobile phones?

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/MobilePhonesVanishingB ees.php

CD, I always wear a Bee Suit when posting on AB - very important to wear a protective device, I find.

[raysparx1]

Hi China, lol, not many I guess, but, would be worth asking in local health food store, when I used to live in London you could get local honey in west and north london, so south must have some as well, keep looking, good luck. it must have lots to do with the way we are allowing the world to die, so hope that isn't so,

Dave, thank you for the link, god that is so scary, please make a quick recovery all you bees,

Thats a bit of good news Yoga, heres hoping eh.

[alfieblue]

Lol Lottie - pup loves tissues - will steal them from pockets and yes - we have soggy tissues on the floor.!!!! He also likes unravelling loo roll (andrex puppy - not!!!) - I am forever cleaning up soggy bits n pieces!!!! Pup likes to search pockets - (poor visitors) - Ho hum!!!!

Pup smile: :o=) xx

[China Doll]

I didn't even think about mobile phone masks jno. So much influencing the enviroment. Sad really. I wonder what'll happen when we start producing even more of those enviromentally sound fuel crops?

I have a protectivesuit for the different levels of AB... Some people call them topics but I've taken to likening them to some of those games I had when I was a kid with different baddies in!

[raysparx1]

Cheers jno, thats very interesting reading, hope it isn't true, cos if it is. we are definitely doomed.

[alfieblue]

Oh dear - dont say that ray!!!

Always be optimistic - thats my thinking .

Else - what is there??

Its up to us, all nature lovers to carry on the good work, to love nature and all it has to offer - we can all do our wee bit - xxxx

[raysparx1]

Ok alfie, I am always optimistic, :-) and as you say we all need to do our little bit to help the lovely world we live in survive, and I am going to now get some more plants to encourage more bees in to my little corner of the world.

Thanks alfie, you bought me back to reality xx

[alfieblue]

No probs ray - you are a sweet pea!!

I do my wee bit too, with my patch and my plants. I guess it all helps. :o) xxx

[madboutcats]

hello ray, yes the landslip was not much fun, its on a major trunk road between carlisle and edinburgh and has almost cut off the town of langholm, (going off on a tangent to rays original post) heavy rain has wash part of the road away into the river below and buses cant use the small wiggly back road that local traffic can use. the road could be closed until mid august, anyway getting back on track but sticking with butterflies my mums buddleia is in bloom and no butterflies my mum remembers days when it would be covered in the beautiful insect, her plum tree too doesnt have many on but she had a glut year last year when the tree was dripping with plums, the birds are having a field day with the raspberries that she can not bend to reach, she'll be getting the jam pan out soon.

[frankofile]

Spent a few hours wandering round the gardens of Cannington College this week, newly opened to the public,, and what struck us, particularly in the blue garden(lots of lavendar amongst others) was the sheer abundance of bees. Not just the quantity, but the variety, I've never seen so many types. So all is not lost, we all must make the effort to grow bee friendly flowers. " xmasses ago I was given a bee box. You know the sort of thing, sections of bamboo in a little "bird house". My question is; they block up the front of the holes. Do they get out the next spring, or should I clean them out?

[raysparx1]

Hi frankofile, thanks for that, at least they are about in certain areas, that is really good news, can't help with your query about the bees, hope Lottie or one of the others maybe able to shed some light on that for you, have good weekend, Ray

[tigerlily11]

I watched something on this the other day.
This show recons that there has been an 80% drop in the bee population in the US alone.
In Croatia there was a drop of 5 million bees in 48 hours.
Strangly enough I have seen more bees this year than last.
The bushes in my mil garden and my own have had loads of them.
Wasps on the other hand I have seen very few of. Mind you I'm not sure if thats a bad thing.

[alfieblue]

Hi all! Ray - apologies but i am just going to snatch a wee corner of your thread to say hello to all pals on here. Hope you don't mind. :o)

Garner, Yogasun - lovely to hear from you. I too have plants in my garden to attract the wee critters. Buddleia is just flowering now - and have seen a few butterflies coming and going which is lovely to see.

Madaboutcats - lovely to hear from you. So sorry to hear about the landslip -I hope all is well soon. Scotland is such a beaut place - my mum was scottish - even though she lived down here for many years,Scotland was always 'hame' to her. I have visited many places (with my brother) where mum spent a wonderful childhood and still have many relations in bonnie scotland. I had a wee laugh at your mum getting the jampan out!!!

Mum was always getting the jampan out! She was a gardener through and through and even when she lost her sight in later years she still tended her beloved garden. How she did it, I will never know - guess where theres a will, theres a way. She had lots of fruit (raspberries, goosegogs, blackcurrents, plums, pears, apples etc) and she always used to say to me - its a wee race between the birdies, the creepy crawlies as to who gets the fruit!!!! However, share and share alike - the critters got their fair share and mum still managed to make her jam!!! And very good it was too!!! Fond memories. xxxx

ruthann58 - so sorry i missed your post - i have to apologise, was sending up the zzzz's with the pup - (must be my age!!!). Wee message will be posted.xxx

[madboutcats]

thank you alfieblue, luckily now on holiday, i work in a special needs school so now off for six weeks so hopefully when september comes transport links will be back to normal. i get requests from some of the girls i work with for my mums jam, when she goes around the garden in the evening picking the rasps she's acompanied by big ginge, shame she cant teach him to pick the lower down rasps for her, or learn to carry a little pannier for her to put them in..lol

[raysparx1]

Hi tiger, that is mad, amazing amount of numbers in the states, we got to keep hoping all is going to be well,

alfie, you post as much as you want, I love reading your words, you express things so nicely, :-) xx

Hi madabout well I hope you can get about Ok up there, not what you expect to happen on roads in the Uk is it. have good summer break, lol, did you just say what summer? take care all, and great to see so many do care about the world we share with nature.

[madboutcats]

hello ray, yes what summer, we've had more indoor playtimes this term than we did over the winter time......ho hum. have a good weekend..xx

[alfieblue]

Oh! you are all so lovely. Cant say anymore but keep posting, so informative, so interesting, lovely to hear from all. xxxx :o)