In the April Bugle the Bee Group asked if you would like to count bees and let us know how many you’d seen. Well, it got back to me that counting bees isn’t easy, so here’s a tip or two :
1. Listen. On a still sunny day go into the garden and first of all listen: you can hear bees buzzing, especially bumble bees who seem to make quite a lot of noise. If you can hear bees, go and find out where they are.
2. Look. Often bees will find a favourite plant - cotoneaster bushes are one of those at this time of year. By following the noise you will find where bees are gathered in your garden - or it may be down the dale, or in the churchyard, or anywhere else around the village.
3. Count. This can be difficult because bees move around all the time. People who watch flocks of birds count them by estimating how much space about ten or twenty will take up and then estimating how much space the whole flock they can see is taking up. Bees are much the same. So look at a small area of the plant or tree, see how many bees you can see there, then estimate how many may be on the whole plant. For honey bees it may be in the tens, for bumble bees it will be less.
Only a few people can work on the Youlgrave Bee Group beehives, but the whole village can help and support the bees. After all, they're what it's all about.
Thank you,
JE.
* Your name / address will not be used, or shared in any way, it just enables us to get an idea of where the bees are foraging in the village.
