"Bees have deserted my flower patches that they used to
buzz all day in since the moths took over."
If they were mason bees they'll all be dead now. They only live a few weeks/months before mating; then they drop off this mortal thingumy. With leaf cutter bees, as soon as the males have shagged, they drop dead. The females will be all be deceased in the next few weeks. Ex-bees. Bees no more. With bumblebees all the workers and males will drop off their perch before winter and go to the great meadow in the sky. So, yes, you will be seeing fewer and fewer bees in the garden from here on into winter as they complete their normal life cycle.
We have over 2500 species in the UK ( @wild edges seems to have most of them in his garden ) - they are wonderful, beautiful, often endangered. It's worth finding out more about them and planting for moths and night pollinators, who see differently to bees.
I am not culling anything. I am protecting a set of patches of honey for the "home" habitat that has long been there from a new infestation of an invading colony ravaging out habitat.
Infestation of moths😀😀😀 I wonder which plants the OP has that make honey?
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Bees, including Bumbles, are still on my sunflowers and Bluebeards, Fire. I have been putting an old muslin cloth over them at sundown for about a week now.
Saving the nectar (I meant the nectar) for them when daylight dawns again.
If they are dying, all the more reason that I want to make their short, hardworking lifespan a happy one.
Look at it this way … if the bees are coming to the ends of their lives there’s nothing you can do to change that.
However, if moths and butterflies are to be able to hibernate through the winter and produce the next generation of their species they need to be well-fed now.
Just a thought.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
why would anyone want to feed grey squirrels? They're an alien species. They're vermin. I'd happily help cull each and every one of them and give the native red squirrels a chance at a come back
The r*ddy things have now made serious inroads in Perthshire @Hostafan1 - to the extent that they're now asking people to monitor and report sightings, because it's becoming a problem. Such a great habitat for our reds. Glen Lyon in particular. Very worrying.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The r*ddy things have now made serious inroads in Perthshire @Hostafan1 - to the extent that they're now asking people to monitor and report sightings, because it's becoming a problem. Such a great habitat for our reds. Glen Lyon in particular. Very worrying.
I've seen one red squirrel in my entire time on this planet. Unfortunately the american invaders are pretty much everywhere. And folk think it's "nature"? Gee !
I've been fortunate to see them quite often, but it breaks my heart to think they could be driven out from their best habitats. We have around 75% of the UK red population up here. How long for, is the question
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
I wonder which plants the OP has that make honey?
Saving the nectar (I meant the nectar) for them when daylight dawns again.
If they are dying, all the more reason that I want to make their short, hardworking lifespan a happy one.
It's "she/her", not "he/him." I am a female.
However, if moths and butterflies are to be able to hibernate through the winter and produce the next generation of their species they need to be well-fed now.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
They're an alien species. They're vermin.
I'd happily help cull each and every one of them and give the native red squirrels a chance at a come back
Such a great habitat for our reds. Glen Lyon in particular. Very worrying.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Unfortunately the american invaders are pretty much everywhere.
And folk think it's "nature"? Gee !
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...