Insect activity around a chimney pot
Victoria Sponge
Posts: 3,502
Hi Guys
Question for the insect fans - there is alot of activity around my chimney pot and I can't identify them from the ground although I'd hazard a guess at honey bees or wasps.
There appears to be a dozen or more slender insects around an inch long diving in the chimney pot and shooting around in the air around it.
Does anyone know what they're likely to be from the behaviour and location/ time of year?
A few websites I looked at said they're likely to be honey bees but I don't know enough about insect behaviour to know one way or the other. I don't think they are bumble bees as one flew over the house as I was watching and it didn't look the same at a distance.
Hopefully something hasn't died in the chimney and they're bluebottles or something
Thanks for any info
Posts
my guess would be wasps
In the sticks near Peterborough
Wasps are cool, only thinking today I hadn't seen many this year...perhaps I was looking in the wrong place
I thought at first a wood pigeon on my roof had a cloud of flies around its head
Is that the sort of thing they do, hovering angrily around the entrance? I havent seen any going back and forth...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khMTDhO_e3Y
In the sticks near Peterborough
Hi Welshonion, yes I've had the bino's out (
) but I can't make them out, might try again when the sun is lower...
I don't mind them being there at all, whatever they are, I'm just curious as I try to garden for insects
I thought if I watched long enough I'd see one leaving the garden and heading up to the roof but not so far.
Hi,
It could well be honeybees .... and, if it is, then your chimney is now their new home! They will begin to create comb, fill it with some nectar and pollen, and try and build the colony up to a sufficient size to make it through the winter. So, they may still be there next spring and beyond.
If you start getting a sticky mess (and possibly bees) down the chimney and into your house it's a good idea to buy one of those chimney balloons that people use to stop drafts.
Of course when you light your fire they will be history ......
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Thanks for the video Nut
Wish I could see them that close...
Hi Bee witched, my chimneys are sealed off inside the house but I've heard things in them before so think it's accessible from the roof.
Been out with the binos again and can make out legs and segments but that's all...They look more bumbley through the binos but I think there are too many...? Frustratingly they are not coming into the garden but flying away really high over the gardens, most in the same direction where I assume there's a better source of food
Possibly hornets?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
They would be welcome also but I haven't seen any knocking about
Just looked it up on BWARS (
) and apparently the UK hornet doesn't venture this far North...
Honeybees are making a beeline (sorry!!) for the flowers on lime trees at the moment ... and also to the rosebay willowherb.
Have a look to see if either are in flower in the area your insects are flying towards and you might be able to "meet" them at ground level and see what they are.
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime