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Bees caught in skylights

c.k.16c.k.16 Posts: 7
in Problem solving
Hi all,

I wondered if anyone can can give me any advice. We have big doors to our kitchen which we open in the summer. Because we get the evening sun it attracts a lot of bees into the house and they then get stuck up in the skylights. Has anyone found a good way to get bees down from skylights and outside without injuring them? It’s way too high for me to reach with the traditional glass and paper! I’m trying to be wildlife friendly so really don’t want them trapped inside or injured. 

Thanks

Posts

  • plant pauperplant pauper Posts: 6,904
    edited May 2018
    Shrimp net? Butterflies get up there too. 
    Oh my. I've just googled 'shrimp nets' and the only images are giant things. I meant the sort you used to get at the sea-shore on holidays as a child! Small net on a bamboo cane.
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    Bumbles go a bit dopey in the evening so I can usually get them to slowly walk onto my telescopic duster - like feather duster so a soft, bushy thing for them to encounter which they don't seem to see as a threat. Then move it veeerrrry down so I can 'glass and paper' them from the duster and let them out the window. It's OK for one or two bumbles but would take forever to move a lot of bees. We get little damsel flies in as well - similar problem - they look so fragile.

    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • c.k.16c.k.16 Posts: 7
    Good ideas thanks guys - I’ll try them
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    I take it the skylights don't open?
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • Alan Clark2 in LiverpoolAlan Clark2 in Liverpool Posts: 2,190
    Why not stop them from getting in in the first place by using a string curtain in the doorway?
  • c.k.16c.k.16 Posts: 7
    No the skylights don’t open which is our problem :( a good idea as well Alan but we have big bifold doors so don’t think I’d find one big enough (Also partly defeats the point of bifold doors then as well!). 
  • susan.tolandizt7mvt6susan.tolandizt7mvt6 Posts: 1
    I see I am a bit late to the party on this thread, but I just wanted to add to an earlier suggestion from @raisingirl to use the feather duster. I tried this using a microfibre duster with no luck but when I dipped it in a sugar solution, the bee walked straight on and I got her down and outside. 
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