Saving bees one at a time
Bees, along with other insect population crashes around the world, are in decline. It’s difficult to know what to do about it other than ban all insecticides (I can’t see that happening when we don’t even act on global warming), make every open space insect friendly, and educate everyone about our reliance on insects for pollination of our food. The problem for insects is that so many people fear them.
In Britain, at least, (unless you have an allergy to certain bites or stings) we have little to fear. You might cite bees as a fearful insect, but they have little interest in stinging people unless they feel under threat. Among honeybees only female bees sting, and if they do, they die. This, surely, must serve as a deterrent. My experiences with bumble bees also show a reticence to sting, as with this one I saved from drowning in my pond.
I happened to be passing the pond (I always have to stop and see if there’s anything interesting there) and spotted this bumble in trouble. Without thinking I reached over and scooped it up on my finger. It did nothing (other than feel some relief I imagine!) and sat quite still while I took it to a sunny spot and encouraged it from my finger onto an oregano flower. It was very bedraggled (as you can see) and possibly in shock as it calmly stepped from my finger onto the flower. It took about twenty minutes to dry out to this level of fluffy-ness.
In Britain, at least, (unless you have an allergy to certain bites or stings) we have little to fear. You might cite bees as a fearful insect, but they have little interest in stinging people unless they feel under threat. Among honeybees only female bees sting, and if they do, they die. This, surely, must serve as a deterrent. My experiences with bumble bees also show a reticence to sting, as with this one I saved from drowning in my pond.
I happened to be passing the pond (I always have to stop and see if there’s anything interesting there) and spotted this bumble in trouble. Without thinking I reached over and scooped it up on my finger. It did nothing (other than feel some relief I imagine!) and sat quite still while I took it to a sunny spot and encouraged it from my finger onto an oregano flower. It was very bedraggled (as you can see) and possibly in shock as it calmly stepped from my finger onto the flower. It took about twenty minutes to dry out to this level of fluffy-ness.