Late.
Yep!
Out sitting with the queens in the sunshine.
And my what a lot of queens there are.
Place is literally humming.
‘They got a message from the Action Man
We’re humming hope you’re humming too…’
#nature
#bowie
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 87
#Bumblebees leave a scent mark (a sticky secretion) behind whenever they land on #flowers and can distinguish between their own scent marks, those left by fellow nest-mates and those left behind by #bees from other colonies.
April welcomes the return in the UK of the Big Eight Bumblebees.
This month, some queens will emerge from hibernation. Already active queens will produce their first daughters – the workers.
When a queen first emerges, she spends some time resting in order to wake up properly. Once fully awake, she feeds on flowers to gain energy. Then, she begins the search for a suitable nest site: holes in the ground, long grass, bird boxes and beneath garden sheds.
Having chosen her nest site, the queen will feed on more flowers and lay her first batch of eggs. Little white larvae hatch, feed on collected pollen, and then develop into adult workers. These smaller females carry out work inside and outside the nest. Queens remain inside the nest, laying more eggs for the next batch of workers.
This every couple of steps around the sanctuary at the moment.
The sound of #spring.
Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz buzz, buzz, no buzz, birdsong, no buzz, birdsong, no buzz, birdsong, no buzz, birdsong, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz…
Them queens be out exploring!
Simple.
Joyful.
Vital.
Early!
It’s #Friday folks!
Have the best #weekend you can.
You know the drill:
Be #kind
Be #gentle
Be #true
Be like #bees
Oh…and don’t be a little rich stand for nothing bitch that starts a global trade war for attention.
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 83
#Bumblebees made history when over 130 years ago they were brought from England to New Zealand to pollinate red #clover for farmers - the first #insect to be introduced to a country to #pollinate a specific plant.
the recent #bumblebees #conservation paper mentioned in the Guardian piece:
https://resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/icad.12808?af=R
Maybe I should ask a bumblebee to chew on a bee fact…then it might arrive early!
What?
What?
I do this for free!
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 81
Research found that tomato plants flowered up to 30 days earlier in response to their leaves being chewed by hungry #bumblebees.
When this behaviour is mimicked by cutting the leaves they only flower 5 days earlier!
#bees
Here is a Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) in flight. A magnificent ginger marmelade colour.
Three big fluffy bumblebees (and one honeybee) were all over the huckleberry bush today. Didn’t even notice the tiny flowers. The sound of buzzing was such a sweet surprise. Buzzfest 2025
Bombus vosnesenskii (maybe)
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 80
A recent study in Sweden has found that music can affect bumblebee mating - specifically the length of mating events.
In a laboratory environment broadcasting soul songs such as Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’ resulted in longer and more frequent mating events.
Songs by #TaylorSwift were found to decrease mating event duration and often inhibit entirely mating between #bumblebees.
#bees
#nature
#April
Told you I’d be back!
With today’s fact.
Still not sure if it’s late or not but it’s definitely a goodie regardless of the time.
And I am…
Regardless of the time!
Go easy folks.
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 79
Recent research suggests that if food is scarce hungry #bumblebees will chew on plant leaves - not to eat them - but to stress the plant causing it to #flower thus providing earlier #pollen for the #bees.
Chew on that! 
Late?
Not sure. They’ve been messing with the clocks again…and given my already tumultuous relationship with time…well…it wouldn’t surprise me if this wasn’t even today’s fact!
It’s not?
Ok
I need another fact.
I’ll be back!
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 78
Unlike females, male #bumblebees don’t perform learning flights on leaving the nest. They fly directly away never looking back. 
They do however perform learning flights on leaving #flowers to memorise location.
#bees
The telltale signs of #spring are her! #crocus and #bumblebees in the garden!
Please note:
All #bees in these clips were immediately rescued and survived.
Rescue was delayed for less than a minute to record their plight to make more people aware of this issue.
Whilst we concentrate on bees here all #insects should be shown the same consideration.
11/11
#nature
#wildlife
#help
#sanctuary
#bumblebees
#spring
#saturday
So you need to act fast - don’t leave her suffer while you do something else (with good intentions to get to her at some stage - which you might forget).
Why?
#Bumblebees, even with a full stomach, have about 40 minutes of ‘energy’ in them before…
3/11
#Bumblebees don’t understand glass - they get confused and trapped and exhausted.
And they die.
Likewise with polytunnel plastic.
So if you see or hear a bumblebee buzzing and banging against a window in your house SHE NEEDS YOUR HELP - AND QUICKLY!
She’s in trouble.
2/11
Queen #BUMBLEBEES - HELP THEM OUT!
Another Saturday morning means another vital thread concerning #bumblebee queens at this time of year!
Please #repost/#share as EVERY QUEEN BEE THAT SURVIVES GETS TO ESTABLISH A NEST that otherwise would not happen. Let me explain.
1/11
#bees
And I get lost in a drop down menu.
Go easy folks.
Stop and listen to the hum of a passing bumble if you’re lucky enough to still have them in your vicinity.
#nature
#planet
#pollinators
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 75
#Bumblebees are able to start foraging earlier in the morning and continue until later in the evening when landmarks aren’t visible as they can use the polarised light of the sky as a GPS for guidance to their nest!
#bees
