2011 has been quite a year as far as bees and beekeeping is concerned with more beekeepers joining the ranks; a move towards more and more urban beekeeping; increased interest in top bar hives; more and more of the public taking an interest in bees and even a parliamentary debate about bee problems led [...]
Cockerell’s Bumblebee Was Last Seen in the United States in 1956. A team of scientists from the University of California, Riverside recently rediscovered the rarest species of bumblebee in the United States, last seen in 1956, living in the White Mountains of south-central New Mexico.
Known as “Cockerell’s Bumblebee,” the bee was originally described in [...]
It never surprises me when new species of bee are found. I was amazed at Cardiff years ago when told how many thousands of species of bee had been found and that it probably wasn’t the half of it yet I still delight in any new find.
Now Smithsonian scientists have discovered two new, [...]
What about the seasons and the bees? All of us must have noticed that our seasons are changing and I bet many have wondered just how the plants and insect pollinators are reacting to this. Well a small piece of research shows us that so far everything has kept up but whether this will [...]
CCD and global honey bee decline; could diesel fumes be a cause?There have been so many possible different causes for honey bee num bers declining and now a piece of research intends to discover if diesel fumes are contributing to this decline.
Professor Guy Poppy, an ecologist, Dr Tracey Newman, a neuroscientist, and their [...]
Why can some honey kill you? Most of us have heard about some rhododendron honey being poisonous and that in ancient times in Greece, retreating armies left pots of the stuff in the path of the advancing victors hoping to poison them. But what is it about this honey that can cause so much harm?
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Head Butting! This piece of research is something really interesting and explains how swarms searching for a home really decide just when to stop searching and start moving.
Swarms of honey bees split off from their mother colony and go house-hunting, looking for a secure cavity in a tree or elsewhere that will make a good [...]
Can maths give an answer? A field of flowers may seem innocuous—but for the birds and bees that depend on it for sustenance, that floral landscape can be a battlefield mined with predators and competitors. The more efficient a pollinator is in feeding, the less chance it has of becoming food itself.
Now mathematicians have [...]
Why buttercups reflect yellow on chins: Research sheds light on children’s game and provides insight into pollination.
I think everyone reading this will have done the buttercup thing under the chin and now we know why the flower shines on our skin. Scientists have found that the distinctive glossiness of the buttercup flower (Ranunculus [...]
Our poem of the month is yet another masterpiece by Emily Dickinson
‘Purple Clover’
There is a flower that bees prefer,
And butterflies desire;
To gain the purple democrat
The humming-birds aspire.
And whatsoever insect pass,
A honey bears away
Proportioned to his several dearth
[...]
A folklore tale - Why honey bees avoid red clover. In our poem of the month, Emily Dickinson wrote about red clover and her ‘bees’ were probably bumblebees which have tongues long enough to suck up the nectar. Honey bees are unable to do this and beekeepers believe that it is because their tongues are too [...]
Two recipes this month that show the versatility of honey in cooking and both of them are very tasty and easy to make. The turron is very special at this time of the year.
Green Beans with Garlic and Honey
This is a very simple dish and tastes excellent if you use [...]
This is one of the best bee quotes that I have heard this year and it is so true. But who said it? If anyone can enlighten me please do!
“One fact remains, though.
Say the bees will and they won’t.
Say they won’t, and they will.”
Unknown author (to me at [...]
