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Maybe this happens every year and I've just missed it, but this June, there seem to be lots and lots of dead bees on the pavements - there just seem to be far too many.
Whats's going on?
Did I ever mention that I was in Minder?
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Bees - Real ones, not that lot. on 16:06 - Jun 24 with 2319 views
There's a time, usually early July whenthere are suddenly millions of flying ants everywhere. They last a few days then vanish. Anyone else noticed them ?
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Bees - Real ones, not that lot. on 17:04 - Jun 24 with 2200 views
Bees - Real ones, not that lot. on 17:00 - Jun 24 by colinallcars
There's a time, usually early July whenthere are suddenly millions of flying ants everywhere. They last a few days then vanish. Anyone else noticed them ?
we've got ants. No problems with them.
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Bees - Real ones, not that lot. on 17:17 - Jun 24 with 2174 views
Bees - Real ones, not that lot. on 17:00 - Jun 24 by colinallcars
There's a time, usually early July whenthere are suddenly millions of flying ants everywhere. They last a few days then vanish. Anyone else noticed them ?
It’s known officially as flying ant day.
Yes I noticed the bees on the pavement thing too. Not sure what’s going on.
Bees are in decline all across the western world. It’s for a number of reasons, but safe to say the human race isn’t helping them much I’ll never forget the day, about forty years ago, when I was working on Ledway Drive up the top of Preston Rd. On staging at the front of a house when this humming noise had me look around and what I can only describe as the ‘perfect swarm’(sorta comet shaped ) went right by me, so bloody close, I was in awe ( that’s English for shit myself).
Are you sure those bees are dead? I've seen something about bees being knackered, literally flat out on their backs, restin' (as Michael Palin's Pet Shop owner would say). They can be revived with the aid of a thimble of sugary water.
Update: Put the thimble away. Apparently it's not such a good idea after all ...
Bees - Real ones, not that lot. on 18:13 - Jun 24 by DannyPaddox
Are you sure those bees are dead? I've seen something about bees being knackered, literally flat out on their backs, restin' (as Michael Palin's Pet Shop owner would say). They can be revived with the aid of a thimble of sugary water.
Update: Put the thimble away. Apparently it's not such a good idea after all ...
Bees, just been out to check and they are still collecting pollen from my three very large hanging baskets, by coincidence I was watching a bee last night inside the flower of one of me courgettes, its strange how they hover above the flower before entering? Admit though that there are a few that are docile and can be seen stood almost motionless on the footpath but by and large they are very active in my garden. Wasps, got no problem with wasps as at this time of year they will go round relentlessly eating bloody aphids or such like from me vegetable plants. I got bird and ladybird boxes in the garden and a hedgehog nest hidden in the corner of the garden that get's used every year.
I've also got herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past me back door every morning.
All together now,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
"A fiddle de dum, a fiddle de dee Eric, the half a bee Hoh hoh hoh, tee hee hee Eric, the half a bee
My Father had a profound influence on me, he was a lunatic.
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Bees - Real ones, not that lot. on 19:14 - Jun 24 with 1931 views
More people, less bees and insects. This is going to get far worse. We are twice as densely populated as Germany and France. We will keep allowing 300k people, into our country every year
Seriously if the British bee population is falling and pollination and honey production are in decline should we let more foreign worker bees in? Or will they just send the honey back to their own countries?
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Bees - Real ones, not that lot. on 03:14 - Jun 25 with 1668 views
Bees - Real ones, not that lot. on 00:48 - Jun 25 by DannyPaddox
Seriously if the British bee population is falling and pollination and honey production are in decline should we let more foreign worker bees in? Or will they just send the honey back to their own countries?
Bring more bees in, that sounds like a good idea. Then we have to look after them because without them, we will die out.
I'm hearing a lot that if the bees die out then the human race will die out. Surely someone has watched what they do in detail - collecting pollen, making honey etc. Couldn't we employ people to do the same with a syringe, or a pipette, or something. Even on a zero-hours contract basis (so as as to compete in the global market-place) I can think of worse jobs. A bit obvious but these human 'worker bees' could wear UPS-style delivery uniforms but in black and yellow.
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Bees - Real ones, not that lot. on 09:22 - Jun 25 with 1537 views
Bees - Real ones, not that lot. on 00:26 - Jun 25 by Miss_Terraces
More people, less bees and insects. This is going to get far worse. We are twice as densely populated as Germany and France. We will keep allowing 300k people, into our country every year
How many leave each year?
The grass is always greener.
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Bees - Real ones, not that lot. on 15:21 - Jun 25 with 1418 views
Gives you a good idea of the cause. Of course it’s a lucrative business for the big chemical companies. There’s been a huge amount of campaigning to get these poisons banned.
Bees - Real ones, not that lot. on 18:14 - Jun 25 by w7r
Gives you a good idea of the cause. Of course it’s a lucrative business for the big chemical companies. There’s been a huge amount of campaigning to get these poisons banned.
It's not just the bees, it's other insects too. Around 40% of all insects are at risk, yet 75% of our food is insect pollinated. There is a chance insects could be extinct within a hundred years.
Some of the causes have been mentioned here (pesticides especially neonicotinoids) but other issues include: - Global warming: Insects and the plants they rely on are getting our of sync as the seasons move around - The varroa mite - Asian hornets, which destroy bee colonies - A lack of wildflowers (many cultivated flowers look nice but are of no value to pollinators) and insufficient diversity of wildflowers (bees do better when they have a variety of flowers to visit).
You can help them if you stop using pesticides and grow some native British wildflowers, or just cut your lawn less and stop putting chemicals on it; eventually, some wildflowers will just appear because the average lawn has around 20 species of flower in it, it's just that the more vigorous grasses in lawns tend to suppress them. What a great excuse for being a lazy gardener!
I hope we don't get into the state parts of China are in: There, farmers are having to get workers to hand pollinate fruit trees because bees have been wiped out locally.
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."