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OVER THE PAST number of weeks whilst outside you will likely and hopefully have heard the unmistakable and oh so welcome low hum which arrives with the warming days of spring.
No, not the distant sound of contractors flailing every hedgerow in sight to within an inch of their existence – but rather the polar opposite – the life-affirming sweet hum of big furry bees.
Bumblebees.
The girls are back in town. When you hear this hum you know you’re in the presence of royalty. The only royalty that deserves a bow – Queen Bumblebees.
If you’re lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the source of this buzzing in early spring you’re more than likely to be encountering a bumblebee queen rather than a female worker. Queens are generally a lot bigger in size than the female workers, which they will soon produce, and even the males, which they will decide to produce later in the summer.
Waking up
Newly emerged from hibernation these humble queens are back on the wing and on a mission – actually two missions – they’re mightily hungry (wouldn’t you be) and they’re homeless – so they need to feed up and find a suitable site to establish their palace. Their nest.
Food comes first as better life decisions are rarely made on an empty stomach. This is why the availability of early forage is so so important.
Forage, what is that? Flowers, darling. Loads and loads of early blooming spring flowers. Dandelions, snowdrops, wild primrose, dead nettle, hellebores, crocus, snake’s head fritillary, chickweed, wallflowers, lesser Celandine to name a few, and that most overlooked and underestimated of our native trees – the Pussy Willow.
A tree oft treated as an unwanted weed by many throughout our countryside but if you take a moment to notice at this time of year will have more royalty on its catkins than a balcony in Westminster can muster these days.
Setting up home
Once they have filled their tummies with nectar the queens set off on the second part of their mission. House-hunting. Not having estate agent bees available to help, the queens must seek out a suitable nest site themselves and this is why you will observe them flying low to the ground zig-zagging from spot to spot at this time of year.
They will stop to check out any site that they deem to have potential – crawling into tufts of long grass, into crevices in old stone walls, holes at the base of trees, spaces under garden sheds, unused rodent nests. Nowhere is off the menu.
They will disappear from sight into a hole for a minute or so – giving the place a proper survey – often emerging from an alternative entrance you hadn’t even spotted – then move on presumably irked that what advertised itself as a luxury two-bed turned out to be a complete doer-upper with dodgy plumbing and a fold-down bed in the kitchen come shower room.
Eventually, though she will find a suitable spot and get down to the serious business of laying her eggs and ensuring that her species continues to exist despite what sometimes seems like our best efforts to prevent – around 40% of bee species worldwide are currently believed to be in serious trouble.
During these food and house hunting flights at this time of year, these newly emerged queens take breaks. Lots of them. Their internal tachometer tells them to turn off the engine for a while and chill.
And they do.
And for up to an hour at a time.
There’s nothing wrong with them. They’re on a flight stopover, that’s all. Having a few moments. When they’re ready they’ll simply fire up the engines and get back to the flying thing.
Now we, being, for the most part, the caring creatures we are, might see these resting bees and, knowing that bees, in general, are in trouble, our presumption might be that if she’s not flying and just sitting there she must need our help. And she might. We might be right. But how do we know?
How can you help?
As a rule of thumb, the best thing to do is just leave her be. If she’s not in imminent danger of being trodden on (sometimes to a bee a pathway just seems like the ideal stopover location) or being hurt by a dog or cat – you get the drift – then just leave her rest.
If she is in danger you can gently move her to a sheltered spot or a nearby flower. Don’t just pick her up. Gently scoop her up on a leaf or use your credit card or a piece of cardboard. Offer her a twig or something similar to climb on to. Avoid picking a flower to do this as that flower needs to be alive to feed more bees!
You might find that as soon as you spring to action she ‘comes to’ and immediately takes to the air.
That’s alright. She’s good.
Again if she doesn’t appear to be in danger – leave her. Keep an eye on her. If however after about an hour she is still there then your intervention might be helpful.
She might need an energy boost.
Nectar.
Get her to a nearby flower and when you think flower remember dandelions are flowers. We’ve been trained to think of them as weeds. Useless. A nuisance to the perfect lawn. Let’s get this straight – Dandelions are vital.
Also, be aware that daffodils are the boy bands of floral society. Pretty, two a penny, short-lived careers and back for a reunion tour every spring but generally absolutely useless to bees and insects. They’ve been bred for looks not function unless you are lucky enough to have the old wild daffodils which are both relevant and stunning.
If for some reason you can’t locate a flower – unfortunately, not uncommon, we need to fix that – then as a last resort you can help her by offering her a white sugar/water mix. Around a 50:50 mix – less sugar if anything.
Never offer her honey. But you’re thinking bees. So you’re probably thinking honey. It seems like the obvious conclusion. No. Honey may contain pathogens that could actually be harmful to bumblebees. So don’t do it.
Once the queen takes on some sugars and warms up you should find that she will, after a short while, take to the skies and happily disappear back to the wild. So thanks to your help (and that help might simply have been to watch from a distance and not intervene) a bumblebee queen has survived. And that’s important.
Think about it.
I’ve not come across this in any of the scientific literature and not from any of the great bee advice from other bee advocates. Rather it struck me last spring while helping a struggling queen:
Every queen that survives at this time of year, that might have perished were it not for a helping caring hand, gets to establish a colony that would not otherwise exist. If that colony gets to produce even just 10 new queens for next year that’s 10 new colonies for next year. The year after that’s potentially 100 colonies. The year after 1000. By year five that one kind act could theoretically be responsible for 10,000 bumblebee queens and 10,000 nests.
Now that’s the power of individual action.
I like to call it 10 to the power of bee.
Sure there are other factors – big factors – we need to make sure they have habitat and suitable, bountiful forage. We need to stop exposing them to poisonous chemicals. Climate is now in the mix.
But knowledge combined with caring and 10 to the power of bee is a start.
A start we can all make. This spring.
Long live the Queen.
Paul Handrick, known as The Bee Guy runs The Bee Sanctuary in County Wicklow.
Save the bees with us by becoming an Official Friend of the Bees via the website - www.thebeesanctuaryofireland.com.
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Take the vaccine for others benefit even if you dont take it for your own well being.
@Nomis Andrews: you hardly think they will take it for someone else’s sake do you!!??
@Jonnie Marre: altruistic much?
@Jonnie Marre: It would be nice to think that people would take it for the common good as well as for their own self interest in being safe. The vaccine will only be effective if enough of the population take it. For those who are wavering, thinking of the common good might help them over the line.
@Jonnie Marre: that’s why we wear masks. To protect others and not ourselves!
@jeanette: not really, they protect both!
@jeanette: we wear masks because we needed to be seen to do something, even if there was no evidence of the benefit.
Also where can we draw the line on what is acceptable to save others? Wear a mask every winter? Take a vaccine for every communicable disease known? Pay 80% tax to save others….
Is there anything to be said for, I’ll take my own chances, you take yours?
@Barry C: Fine, take your own chances but don’t ever call an ambulance or fire brigade. Stay off the roads and out of the hospitals and schools, don’t claim any form of social welfare or use any government services. You know, all the things that society pays for that we don’t use all of the time because its for the greater good.
@Barry C: “No evidence of benefit of masks”. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6928e2.htm In short 2 hairdressers with covid who wore masks worked with 139 clients, none of the clients picked up the disease.
@David Horgan: thanks for that. Interesting article that I was unaware of.
It falls a bit short of a rigorous scientific study with control groups and full testing of all participants etc. It does suggest that masks might work but we have lots of things SUGGESTING that but nothing proving it. Not to a level where it is satisfactory to tell the population ” put a mask on or face prison”
@Cian – Wash your: that’s just a silly response and avoids my question/ point. Where does it stop Cian?
Face masks forever? Would you wear an adult nappy when you leave the house, like them Chinese airline staff? You know, for the greater good.
@Barry C: plenty of evidence that masks not only protect others but also protect the wearer. And in the grand scheme of things wearing a mask in the middle of a pandemic is not a big ask at all. It’s an inconvenience at most and yet you still have people whinging about it. The biggest shock to me was there are people who are anti handwashing in all this . Yuck ! We cannot survive without looking out for the common good btw . Selfishness will only get you so far. Life saving measures don’t compare to other measures like paying tax btw.Especially when it’s simple measures like masks social distancing and hand washing ! It’s easy to think you will never be vulnerable and never dependent on others but the time will come and you will be . Then how you treated others will have taught others how to treat you . Remember that .
@Jonnie Marre: I’ve had Covid19 which I hope has given me some level of immunity. But if offered the vaccine I will take it because my siblings are all in their 60s and 70s and I would hate to pass something on to them. I think most younger people will be taking it out of concern for older relatives more so than themselves. I think you underestimate the goodness in the average Irish person
@Barry C: we definitely know not wearing a mask won’t stop it, do you agree with that?
@Barry C: why do surgeons wear masks in an operating theatre?
@Barry C: I wear a mask to protect others. It would be great if it would protect me too but evidence just shows it might protect the person wearing it.
As far as I’m concerned these vaccines can’t come fast enough. I put my faith in medicine and science to get back as close to normality as we can. The false information and scare mongering regarding covid by anti vaxxers is nothing short of criminal.
@Gavin Courtney: agree on the anti vax people, but I’m weary of the opinion that a fast vaccination will bring us back to normal. While I have hope for mRNA vaccines, especially in cancer care, they have literally just been released. There are a lot of checks and balances that have been bypassed for fast vaccination, so much so that there seems to be an arms race to vaccinate as many people as possible. Any rational scientist would err on the side of caution and long term reviews on side effects, but this is ignored because of the exact anti vax gombeens.
As a country, we should observe trials elsewhere and keep lockdowns for another few months. Unfortunately, people are literally begging for this to be injected into them at a time when caution is needed.
@James Ward: So 22,000 people hit the vaccine . The side effects are minimal . Chances for most people of getting severe Covid 500 to one . I’ll take my chances with the vaccine thanks
@James Ward: this might be the first one released but they have been working on Mrna vaccines since the early 2000s and Sars
@Gavin Courtney: Absolutely true. I have done some research on the Pfizer vaccine and it is a medical marvel I would have complete confidence in its safety.
@Adrian Versey: what’s in it do you know?
@James Ward: can you provide me with evidence that lots of checks and balances have been bypassed please ?
@James Ward: to really get a true understanding of rna there’s over 40 years of work gone into it, this scaremongering is being fed by…..ignorance https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-women-who-discovered-rna-splicing
It’s Depressing watching the vaccine being rolled out in the UK, US,and now Canada while we are told the EU regulator might be approving one or two by the end of the month and once voted on by the 27 EU countries they will start to distribute .Our Taoiseach says we will get limited supplies in January or February and more in March , April, and May.
FFS hurry up willya !
@Terry Cahill: Here here !!
The top of the page says 32 comments. There are 19 in the comments section. Never let it be said that this is an open forum or that the journal do not censor any comments that go even remotely against their narrative.
@Michael Philips: Different narratives are fine . Lies and misinformation aren’t different narratives though . They are just lies and misinformation . The journal are most likely removing anti vaxx misinformation posts . The journal have led the way on countering lies and misinformation during this pandemic with their fact check articles . Anti vaxxers always cry censorship when they aren’t allowed spread their lies and misinformation . You should know that. It’s a common tactic .
@Michael Philips: in fairness to the journal, and I say this as someone who has been edited by them several times, they don’t claim to be an “open forum” and have Ts&Cs regarding what can and can’t be posted. Do you know what comments were deleted and what “narrative” they went against?
@Purplepickle: will you stop their fact checked articles were a stretch at best in most. I’m all for the vaccine but don’t be fooled by cheap media. They used the Pfizer press release as part of their fact check rather than the published papers which came later. Bit of sense is needed in all this too you know
Anti-vaxxers get on average 125 points in the leaving cert. Fact.
@Gearóid Ó Tuama: I’d be surprised if most of them made it as far as the leaving
@Gearóid Ó Tuama: that’s 125 more than you got I’d say.
@James Ferguson: I got 725, extra points for being so amazing at everything.
@Gearóid Ó Tuama: it’s a class issue is it???? Look at the bias. Gwan ya troll
@Gearóid Ó Tuama: I hear you’ve a 12 inch tongue and can breather through your ears. The ladies love you I’d say and the bottoms of the boys behind the shed
Reposting due to the journal’s censorship policy of deleting any comments they don’t align with their narrative. It is not known if the vaccine reduces transmission or provides immunity – Albert Bourla – CEO Pfizer. Many medical experts have said the same. The vaccine is claimed to suppress symptoms and so will create asymtomatic spreaders. The vaccine cannot have a statistically significant impact in saving lives in under 70’s due to the death rate being so low. Apart from that it’s what we’ve all been waiting for.
@Michael Philips: It’s not known YET if it reduces transmission but at the moment the belief is it is . They are just waiting on more data. The vaccine will likely provide full protection in the vast majority of people taking it and for the rest the severe complications will be removed . There are people behind all those statistics . Just because you don’t think you will die doesn’t mean it’s ok if others die. There is 32% of the population of Ireland with underlying conditions . Death rates aren’t higher because of shielding and cocooning by the vast majority of them. These people want very much to get back to work college school and their lives . So this is what we are waiting for .
are they really vaccines ? they dont stop you catching covid but reduce symptoms. that sounds like treatmenter to me. yo still have to isolate and social distance everywhere as far as I can see.
@ed w: bring back red thumbs
@Fabio Dillon: why this is what I’m reading in scientific papers that the Pfizer vaccine reduces symptoms it doesnt prevent infection ? or did I read that wrong ?
And the band played on
What is keeping the role out of vacationing when thousands are dead?
Who is responsible?
Why and how many more will die because of the delay?
Please someone ask the question.
@Hubert Morris MIPAV: commenting while driving Hubert?!
@Hubert Morris MIPAV: try following the news a bit more closely instead of demanding answers here. All your answers can be found there. There’s no delay.
@Paul Furey: not a delay because the regulators for EU have not approved it yet but certainly very slow and no word until 29 th December . everyone will have a nice peaceful christmas with all the work done and hold back the approval til 29th . how convenient . of course it was for safety concerns but I would bet it’s ready for approval and it should be approved and rolling out by now… to save lives I imagine.
Why does Ronan Glynn always look gloomy
@Paul Dolan: because he is tired from working so hard.
@Paul Dolan: He has to report the number of people who are sick or dead on TV everyday. What do you want him to do, whistle Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah?
it would have been better to vaccinate one whole country first to see if it works, say a small country eg iceland has a population of approx half a million or estonia 1 million.
@michael macken: the optics of using one country as Guinea Pigs wouldn’t be great
What the hell is this man talking about have they all decided the EU is rulng on all this and sure they have eve discussed it yet ??
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