Sorry, I missed the point of this thread. Wildflowers. I do agree with Green Gran message that there is not created a proper balance between leaving wild patches (to dog walkers annoyance) and keeping everything trim and prim. The council ought to support the wildlife too as there are example for society. In my opinion, they could leave some wide stripes of uncut grass at the edges (like some farmers do) for wildflowers and wildlife to survive.
I found it difficult to create a meadow field at our place for many reasons - too rich soil, not right conditions, my boyfriend suffering from hayfever, interest clash ( I wanted to turn struggling grass patch in the front garden into a mini meadow but he wants grass) ... At least , I try to incorporate some wildflowers in my border. Corncockles looks lovely, ox daisies, toad flaxes, Phacelias, open flowers in general. I'd like to incorporate umbrelias but we have a high water table in our garden plus loads of slugs so I am limited in choice.
Previous years we had a lot of buzz in our garden but this year I see nearly no bees. I think there might be a link with the recent flooding in UK.
There may be a link with flooding, but we didn't actually get floods as such. There is a massive wild flower meadow behind the cottages across from us where we walk our hounds (Cavalier King Charles Spaniels; not big 'uns) the plants there are some three to four feet tall and an ideal home for bees, yet I saw just one bumble bee last week; that was all. A friend of mine is a bee keeper and I was asking advice regarding building hives for my back garden just a week or so ago, but the cost, to me as a pensioner, is prohibitive. If anyone has any advice regarding the types of wood required, and any more economical patterns for building hives, I should be only too delighted to hear from you
Just like Lunicorn I also love to feed the bees sugar water if I find them sitting on the ground. I found one a few weeks ago lying in the grass and seemed hardly alive but, I moved it to my lavender plant and remembered an article I has read a few days earlier about finding bees and feeding them so I made it some of the sugar water mixture and it certainly did seem to enjoy it (I also spilt some on the ground and the ants then also seemed to enjoy it as they spent up to 20 minutes each on it feeding). I kept on feeding the same bee for a while and then left it on the lavender flower for the night. When I woke up the next day it was still in the same place and so I gave it some more sugar water, this time after feeding it flew off. I like to think that I gave it its energy back but I probably just annoyed it so much by sticking a spoon with sugar water on towards it so many times that it had enough.
If you are looking to support bees more in your area I would strongly recommend supporting the Beecause (friends of the earth) as some people have mentioned above. I made a donation of £15 before and requested a bee supporting pack to be sent to me. When it did arrive it was very useful - (to name a few things) it came with wildflower seeds, a leaflet containing other activities to help the bees, a garden planner and recipe cards. And so, if you don't mind spending a little money for the bees I would strongly recommend looking into this more.
Hi Flowersforbees, thank you for the comments and in response to your question about the sugar water I just guessed and found a mixture that I thought was right but I read on a website that it should be approximately two parts sugar to one part water.
"Just like Lunicorn I also love to feed the bees sugar water if I find them sitting on the ground. I found one a few weeks ago lying in the grass and seemed hardly alive but, I moved it to my lavender plant and remembered an article I has read a few days earlier about finding bees and feeding them so I made it some of the sugar water mixture and it certainly did seem to enjoy it..."
I feel that what the bumblebees needed in my garden when finding them on the ground under spent chives. I can see you already mentioned the recipe (approximately two parts sugar to one part water). How can I serve it without fear of the bees drowing in it? How long can I leave the syrup before it goes off? Many thanks for your reply.
Continue,
I have found some answer on this website "http://www.bumblebee.org/helpbees.htm". I have shortened the quote "What to do if you find a bumblebee that cannot fly?
The bumblebee is either sick, too old or too cold to fly. If it is sick or infected with a parasite then I'm afraid there is not much that can be done.
If it is cold, you can supplement the supply of nectar during the first few weeks of food emergence by putting out a mixture of 30% sugar and 70% water, the proportions do not have to be exact. This need only be done if there has been a frost or strong wind that has damaged the flowers. Put a small amount of the mixture onto a small container, e.g. the top of a lemonade bottle or the cap of a pen and put this amongst the flowers. This works very well in a patch of heather, and will be appreciated by the queens. If the temperature of the thorax falls below 30 oC the bumblebee cannot take off. During cold days you may find what appears to be an injured queen, that is a bee that is not dead but doesn't fly away. She has probably got too cold and does not have enough energy to build up heat. If you take the bee indoors and provide the sugar and water mixture the bee will soon recover and be on her way, though it is best to keep her inside if it is snowing or raining outside."
In another website someone mention how to stop sugar syrup fermenting by adding chemical Thymol, which occurs naturally in Thyme plants and Thyme honey - at low levels. Quote from http://bumblebeeconservation.org/forum/viewthread/18/#274 by Clive: "Since thymol is the active chemical in a good many commercial Mouthwashes (eg. Colgate Plax) you should be able to prevent the syrup you are feeding to the bees fermenting (recognised by a boozy smell and in bad cases bubbles of CO2 produced), by adding a few drops of Mouthwash to the syrup when it has been freshly made ! Then you should be able to go much longer between “throw-out and wash-up” sessions. I would suggest adding the mouthwash dropwise, shaking or stirring as you go: and probably at a final level strong enough to give the blend a faint odour and taste of Mouthwash. If it still ferments, try adding a bit more !"
As I lost bee loving plants due to the flooding I wish I knew at least about the sugar syrup I could subsitute.
Wildlife gardener123, what kind of soil and wildflowers do you have? How long do they flower? Do you deadhead them to prolong the flowering?
I have nice loamy/well drained soil which gets too hot and dry in summer and waterlogged in winter due to high water table. I tried corncockle (very nice but only one survived the flood), betony (never came out), wild marjoram (survived), wild thyme (rotted) mixed wildflowers (only ox daisies survived). Bumblebees, bees, adored viburnum, winter honeysuckle, daffodils, tulips, alliums, hebes. All rotted this year during 2 month flood. Snowdrops, grape hyacinths, crocuses were under water when in flowers.
In response to the above questions: I am afraid that I do not know exactly what wildflowers I have because I got a mixed packet of seeds which did not state what the flowers were however, I do know that I have cornflowers and poppies as these have already flowered. Also, although I do dead head some of my flowers I have not done as much recently because I am either going to collect the seed to plant again next year or leave some of the flowers to go to seed so that the birds can eat the seeds and be benefitted from this. Most of my flowers only lasted between a week and a couple of weeks but I planted seeds at different times so that I get a succession of flowers through the summer, hopefully with little gaps between flowering times. Also, I grew my flowers in containers this year with general purpose peat free compost and they seem to be quite happy in this. Growing some plants in pots may help you in your garden if it gets a lot of water as they can drain easily.
In response to the questions about the sugar water I think that a way to reduce the chances of a bee drowning in the water is to place stones and pebbles in the water, preferably pebbles that allow a gentle slope into the water for the bees to land on and then walk down to a shallow bit of water. In addition you could just use a container that has no steep sides such as a plate and just fill the centre of it with water so again, the bees can land on it and move down to the shallow edges of the water.
Unfortunately I am not sure how long you should leave the water out for before replacing it but I would of thought that replacing it every few days should do.
Posts
I have to agree with you Shutterbug on the subject of Governments.
We can only live in hope that they will listen to us. Maybe we should
approach Prince Charles on this subject as he is absolutely committed to
protecting the environment by staying organic. I know he's not supposed to
interfere in politics, but he does and in some cases has been known to have
influenced them according to the press. He made an excellent broadcast
on Radio 4 many years ago which is in print in the book "Respect for the Earth"
which is a good read for anyone concerned about the environment. Long live bees!
Sorry, I missed the point of this thread. Wildflowers. I do agree with Green Gran message that there is not created a proper balance between leaving wild patches (to dog walkers annoyance) and keeping everything trim and prim. The council ought to support the wildlife too as there are example for society. In my opinion, they could leave some wide stripes of uncut grass at the edges (like some farmers do) for wildflowers and wildlife to survive.
I found it difficult to create a meadow field at our place for many reasons - too rich soil, not right conditions, my boyfriend suffering from hayfever, interest clash ( I wanted to turn struggling grass patch in the front garden into a mini meadow but he wants grass) ... At least , I try to incorporate some wildflowers in my border. Corncockles looks lovely, ox daisies, toad flaxes, Phacelias, open flowers in general. I'd like to incorporate umbrelias but we have a high water table in our garden plus loads of slugs so I am limited in choice.
Previous years we had a lot of buzz in our garden but this year I see nearly no bees. I think there might be a link with the recent flooding in UK.
There may be a link with flooding, but we didn't actually get floods as such. There is a massive wild flower meadow behind the cottages across from us where we walk our hounds (Cavalier King Charles Spaniels; not big 'uns) the plants there are some three to four feet tall and an ideal home for bees, yet I saw just one bumble bee last week; that was all. A friend of mine is a bee keeper and I was asking advice regarding building hives for my back garden just a week or so ago, but the cost, to me as a pensioner, is prohibitive. If anyone has any advice regarding the types of wood required, and any more economical patterns for building hives, I should be only too delighted to hear from you
Just like Lunicorn I also love to feed the bees sugar water if I find them sitting on the ground. I found one a few weeks ago lying in the grass and seemed hardly alive but, I moved it to my lavender plant and remembered an article I has read a few days earlier about finding bees and feeding them so I made it some of the sugar water mixture and it certainly did seem to enjoy it (I also spilt some on the ground and the ants then also seemed to enjoy it as they spent up to 20 minutes each on it feeding). I kept on feeding the same bee for a while and then left it on the lavender flower for the night. When I woke up the next day it was still in the same place and so I gave it some more sugar water, this time after feeding it flew off. I like to think that I gave it its energy back but I probably just annoyed it so much by sticking a spoon with sugar water on towards it so many times that it had enough.
If you are looking to support bees more in your area I would strongly recommend supporting the Beecause (friends of the earth) as some people have mentioned above. I made a donation of £15 before and requested a bee supporting pack to be sent to me. When it did arrive it was very useful - (to name a few things) it came with wildflower seeds, a leaflet containing other activities to help the bees, a garden planner and recipe cards. And so, if you don't mind spending a little money for the bees I would strongly recommend looking into this more.
Putting up bee boxes to protect the bees from the cold in winter might help
them too Wildlife Gardener123. I love your story about feeding the bee sugar
water and would like to try it. I've always just lifted bees in distress onto a
pollen laden flower, but your bee cure sounds much better - what is the ratio
approx. of sugar to water or doesn't it really matter?
Hi WG123 - Many thanks for that - hopefully I will be able to save some
precious bees!
@wildlife gardener123
"Just like Lunicorn I also love to feed the bees sugar water if I find them sitting on the ground. I found one a few weeks ago lying in the grass and seemed hardly alive but, I moved it to my lavender plant and remembered an article I has read a few days earlier about finding bees and feeding them so I made it some of the sugar water mixture and it certainly did seem to enjoy it..."
I feel that what the bumblebees needed in my garden when finding them on the ground under spent chives. I can see you already mentioned the recipe (approximately two parts sugar to one part water). How can I serve it without fear of the bees drowing in it? How long can I leave the syrup before it goes off? Many thanks for your reply.
Continue,
I have found some answer on this website "http://www.bumblebee.org/helpbees.htm". I have shortened the quote "What to do if you find a bumblebee that cannot fly?
The bumblebee is either sick, too old or too cold to fly. If it is sick or infected with a parasite then I'm afraid there is not much that can be done.
If it is cold, you can supplement the supply of nectar during the first few weeks of food emergence by putting out a mixture of 30% sugar and 70% water, the proportions do not have to be exact. This need only be done if there has been a frost or strong wind that has damaged the flowers. Put a small amount of the mixture onto a small container, e.g. the top of a lemonade bottle or the cap of a pen and put this amongst the flowers. This works very well in a patch of heather, and will be appreciated by the queens. If the temperature of the thorax falls below 30 oC the bumblebee cannot take off. During cold days you may find what appears to be an injured queen, that is a bee that is not dead but doesn't fly away. She has probably got too cold and does not have enough energy to build up heat. If you take the bee indoors and provide the sugar and water mixture the bee will soon recover and be on her way, though it is best to keep her inside if it is snowing or raining outside."
In another website someone mention how to stop sugar syrup fermenting by adding chemical Thymol, which occurs naturally in Thyme plants and Thyme honey - at low levels. Quote from http://bumblebeeconservation.org/forum/viewthread/18/#274 by Clive: "Since thymol is the active chemical in a good many commercial Mouthwashes (eg. Colgate Plax) you should be able to prevent the syrup you are feeding to the bees fermenting (recognised by a boozy smell and in bad cases bubbles of CO2 produced), by adding a few drops of Mouthwash to the syrup when it has been freshly made !
Then you should be able to go much longer between “throw-out and wash-up” sessions.
I would suggest adding the mouthwash dropwise, shaking or stirring as you go: and probably at a final level strong enough to give the blend a faint odour and taste of Mouthwash.
If it still ferments, try adding a bit more !"
As I lost bee loving plants due to the flooding I wish I knew at least about the sugar syrup I could subsitute.
Wildlife gardener123, what kind of soil and wildflowers do you have? How long do they flower? Do you deadhead them to prolong the flowering?
I have nice loamy/well drained soil which gets too hot and dry in summer and waterlogged in winter due to high water table. I tried corncockle (very nice but only one survived the flood), betony (never came out), wild marjoram (survived), wild thyme (rotted) mixed wildflowers (only ox daisies survived). Bumblebees, bees, adored viburnum, winter honeysuckle, daffodils, tulips, alliums, hebes. All rotted this year during 2 month flood. Snowdrops, grape hyacinths, crocuses were under water when in flowers.
In response to the questions about the sugar water I think that a way to reduce the chances of a bee drowning in the water is to place stones and pebbles in the water, preferably pebbles that allow a gentle slope into the water for the bees to land on and then walk down to a shallow bit of water. In addition you could just use a container that has no steep sides such as a plate and just fill the centre of it with water so again, the bees can land on it and move down to the shallow edges of the water.
Unfortunately I am not sure how long you should leave the water out for before replacing it but I would of thought that replacing it every few days should do.
I hope that this response has helped in some way.