Where are all the honey bees?

eagle224 · **Posted:** 17 May 2010, 18:02

I've been working in my garden for the past week and have not come across a single honey bee on any of the plants that are usually covered in them, despite the nice warm sunny days. There are plenty of bumble bee's doing their thing and many other insects buzzing around.

Anyone else noticed a lack of honey bees so far this year?

blahblah · **Posted:** 17 May 2010, 18:24

eagle224 wrote:

I've been working in my garden for the past week and have not come across a single honey bee on any of the plants that are usually covered in them, despite the nice warm sunny days. There are plenty of bumble bee's doing their thing and many other insects buzzing around.

Anyone else noticed a lack of honey bees so far this year?

Old story, and very important. Check out the bbc news site :wink:

there is a thread on here, somewhere about it :wink:

Surprised · **Posted:** 17 May 2010, 18:25

I read something about this in the paper last week. Apparently a lot seemed to have died off. Daily Mail thinks it will be the end of mankind in 10 years (although that was when Brown was PM. Now the end of the bee is the beginning of a new period of prosperity and unbridled joy

)

eagle224 · **Posted:** 17 May 2010, 18:38

blahblah wrote:

eagle224 wrote:

I've been working in my garden for the past week and have not come across a single honey bee on any of the plants that are usually covered in them, despite the nice warm sunny days. There are plenty of bumble bee's doing their thing and many other insects buzzing around.

Anyone else noticed a lack of honey bees so far this year?

Old story, and very important. Check out the bbc news site :wink:

there is a thread on here, somewhere about it :wink:

Did a search for a thread on here but came back empty so started this one.

It was just so noticable this year and I do recall there being a TV programme about the bees in the USA a few years back (hence the question), but thought the conculsion from that was that the European bee was more resilliant. I don't read newspapers, so if this has appeared recently - apologies but that was not what prompted this thread.

I'm just a little concerned I could end up with low yields from my Apple trees and Broad beans which are all in flower right now but have no pollinators on them, so just trying to see if anyone else has the same issue right now or is it just my garden?

blahblah · **Posted:** 17 May 2010, 19:00

eagle224 wrote:

blahblah wrote:

eagle224 wrote:

I've been working in my garden for the past week and have not come across a single honey bee on any of the plants that are usually covered in them, despite the nice warm sunny days. There are plenty of bumble bee's doing their thing and many other insects buzzing around.

Anyone else noticed a lack of honey bees so far this year?

Old story, and very important. Check out the bbc news site :wink:

there is a thread on here, somewhere about it :wink:

Did a search for a thread on here but came back empty so started this one.

It was just so noticable this year and I do recall there being a TV programme about the bees in the USA a few years back (hence the question), but thought the conculsion from that was that the European bee was more resilliant. I don't read newspapers, so if this has appeared recently - apologies but that was not what prompted this thread.

I'm just a little concerned I could end up with low yields from my Apple trees and Broad beans which are all in flower right now but have no pollinators on them, so just trying to see if anyone else has the same issue right now or is it just my garden?

Nah it is everywhere, apart from Australia, who have brought in very tight quarantine restrictions, and it is now a (major?) export industry for them.

The deaths are a bit of a mystery, although there is a lot of circumstantial (I believe) evidence pointing to pesticides etc, especially as the city bees are unaffected.

Surprised · **Posted:** 17 May 2010, 19:05

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildli ... onies.html
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peter ... e-way-out/

In all seriousness the decline of bees could have a devastating effect on our ecosystem

el_pappje · **Posted:** 17 May 2010, 19:09

German chemicals company Bayer makes a product which has been implicated in bee deaths. I think they may have started to fork out compensation in the US.

blahblah · **Posted:** 17 May 2010, 19:38

longy linky

Glyn1972 · **Posted:** 18 Aug 2010, 11:21

eagle224 wrote:

blahblah wrote:

eagle224 wrote:

I've been working in my garden for the past week and have not come across a single honey bee on any of the plants that are usually covered in them, despite the nice warm sunny days. There are plenty of bumble bee's doing their thing and many other insects buzzing around.

Anyone else noticed a lack of honey bees so far this year?

Old story, and very important. Check out the bbc news site :wink:

there is a thread on here, somewhere about it :wink:

Did a search for a thread on here but came back empty so started this one.

It was just so noticable this year and I do recall there being a TV programme about the bees in the USA a few years back (hence the question), but thought the conculsion from that was that the European bee was more resilliant. I don't read newspapers, so if this has appeared recently - apologies but that was not what prompted this thread.

I'm just a little concerned I could end up with low yields from my Apple trees and Broad beans which are all in flower right now but have no pollinators on them, so just trying to see if anyone else has the same issue right now or is it just my garden?

I can see a bee keeping thread coming on

Dot · **Joined:** Fri Jan 06 2006 **Posts:** 18372

[quote="eagle224"]I've been working in my garden for the past week and have not come across a single honey bee on any of the plants that are usually covered in them, despite the nice warm sunny days. There are plenty of bumble bee's doing their thing and many other insects buzzing around.

Plenty in my Conservatory i have to hoover them up nightly.
Think they getting through the roof must of nested up there.

papiss dog · **Posted:** 18 Aug 2010, 11:47

Loads where I work - we have lavender bushes all over the shop and there must easily be a couple of hundred around

Where are all the honey bees?

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