[Anke]

Just a thought that crossed my mind..

We are not allowed beehives etc on site because of the risk of stinging etc.

But If I take specific actions to encourage or increase the bee population couldn't I leave myself open to the same risk?

I know its not cultivating bees but at the same time a bee sting is a bee sting isn't it?

Bumble bees don't sting. Honey bees don't sting unless you disturb them, and more likely to do so near their hive during hot and humid weather. A bee out foraging is highly unlikely to sting. And a bee sting is only an issue if you are really badly allergic - people who are need to carry an injector with them anyway. I think it is massively short-sighted not to have bee hives (limited in number to ensure the site of the allotment allows good enough forage) on allotments - esp in urban areas. Due to the use of chemicals in the countryside beeds have a much harder time out here than they do in cities...

[arobwk]

Unfortunately [member=3211]Anke[/member] female bumble bees do have a sting (both queen and workers I understand) and can sting repeatedly (unlike the honey bee):  I believe the sting is withdrawn within the body, so that's not like either honey bees or wasps.  Male bumbles do not have a sting.
I reckon you need to really provoke a bumble for it to consider stinging, but I wasn't arguing when one split away from the throng of various bumbles on a cotoneaster horizontalis bush while I was weeding close by:  it buzzed menacingly around my head and, when I had got the message, it actually ushered me off across the lawn for several yards before it went back to the cotoneaster !! 
Also, I was once inspecting a bumble bee nest which had been partially "dug out" by a badger:  it wasn't long before the small colony was airborne and ready for action.  Of course, I withdrew promptly.
Personally, I am not complacent where seemingly bumbling bumble bees are concerned ! 

[arobwk]

I've never tried to grow cardoons and had no success with globe artichokes either.  I wonder if cardoons would grow up here   

Cardoons and globe artichokes (GA) are very closely related.  I'm no expert on either, but I've not had a problem growing, splitting, transplanting cardoons down here:  from my cardoon experience, they are one of the earliest perennials to throw new leafy spring growth and mine have been very resilient to cold spring weather/frosts.  That said, having researched GA growing some time back, it is apparent that GA crowns (and maybe cardoon crowns as well) do not like sitting in cold, very wet soil over winter.  Seemingly, GA growers either lift for over-wintering or plant with enhanced drainage and protect the crowns against frosts in situ. 

Do give cardoons a try (maybe taking the above into account) cos the bumbles really do love 'em.

[sabrina]

Bumble bees often nest in the ground. We are over run with badgers who dig up the nest in my paddocks. Now and again there is one in the garden so I keep the dogs away to give the bees a chance. Over the years i have planted bee friiendly flowers.

[Penninehillbilly]

Bumble bees often nest in the ground. We are over run with badgers who dig up the nest in my paddocks. Now and again there is one in the garden so I keep the dogs away to give the bees a chance. Over the years i have planted bee friiendly flowers.

I walk the dogs up our track, very sad to see a bit of the banking dug out, had been a bee nest, presume badger.     

[Steph Hen]

I worked on bumblebees with Dave Gouldon a few years ago.
There are many lists of flowers out there already, basically all wildflowers and cottage garden flowers will be useful to pollinators. Also plenty of trees and shrubs. It might be useful to think about those that produce high quality/protein pollen (legumes particularly popular), those that flower for a long time, like vipers bugloss or tolerate being cut back to produce flowers all summer for a smaller area, comfrey and clovers are good. Spring flowers are very important for queens and early colonies, red and white dead nettles, archangel, willows, cherry and fruit tree blossom come to mind. There’s a toss up between native vs non- rhododendron and humiliating balsam come into this, lots of nectar and full of bees but not Scottish and ecological  problems. Tree flowers seemed to be a bit under valued when I was doing it a few years ago: it was all about trying to recreate wild flower meadows. I think it’s recognised that a tree line can be established and maintained easier and provide good pollinator flowers. Not that wild flower meadows aren’t important but they are mostly outcompetes by grasses and full of thistles within a few years, so there’s issues around establishment and maintenance.
There’s some good anyone can do even if it’s just window boxes or pots, leaving your lawn to clovers and vetches, growing cottage garden plants or thinking about field margins, trees or orchard planting.

Yes it’s badgers that dig up the nests. I found no evidence for foxes or other animals in Britain doing this.
They basically don’t sting unless provoked, but Watch out for tree bumblebees as they seem to sting people more often in the summer. As said, if a nest has previously been attacked the occupants seem to mount a defence rapidly, and will give chase!

[Fleecewife]

Badgers and stupid little boys with sticks!  That was my youngest grandson last year, attacking a nest of small dark wasps which defended themselves viciously for the rest of the year anytime any of us went anywhere near. We all got stung several times, especially near the eyes, all except the grandson who didn't get stung at all    Not bees though, which seem to be much gentler.  Mr F has disturbed bumble nests in bale stacks several times, sadly.  He tries to save them but they do move on.  We get several bee nests in holes in the ground of our garden and in pastures, also bumbles in the attic, every year


What I am wanting to find out from this little survey is which bees we have in our own gardens, and which flowers, shrubs and trees they prefer in our gardens and smallholdings.  I started being interested when I couldn't find any bees ever on Monarda, which is supposed to be a bee favourite.  There were a couple last year in fact, but not the hordes I might have expected from the literature.  It could well be because we don't have the relevant species with the right tongue length. To some extent if you plant the right flowers you could expect the right bees to turn up, but where I live there are very few bees at the best of times.  We have been doing our best with flowers, trees and so on for the past 26 years, but we're just a small island in a sea of mono grass and chemical blasted cereals, not many gardens about either.
I think it will be interesting too to see what range of flowers we each have in our gardens and on our smallholdings, and in what volumes.  Already sharing info about the best flowers is showing benefits, as I shall have a go at cardoons this coming year, if I can get near my polytunnel to start them off (thanks arobwk).  I might try a patch of phacelia in the veg garden again too (thanks for that reminder Q).  One of the best flowers for honey bees is creeping thistle - I have no problem growing those, but there are currently no hives within flying distance of us, so I don't see any honey bees at all - all the more for the bumbles 


Wildflower meadows are not always the answer are they, as you point out Step Hen.  I'm struggling with mine certainly, but I know I will have to try various plants to see what will survive and what is doomed.
I love seeing the first Bumble queens flying in the willow tops high against a bright blue sky in spring - extremely successful.  We have lots of willow species so they are flowering over a long period.  I bought several coloured stem varieties last year but they haven't done very well in the drought we had last year.  Most have survived but they will be needing TLC in spring.  Same with the tree borders we put alongside two paddocks.  The little trees are struggling a bit - dried out in summer and drowned in winter 


You mention dead nettles Steph - one of the most abundant flowers out in my garden and veg garden today is red dead nettle.  It grows everywhere here and the bees love it, although it is low growing and fairly insignificant.  T&M are now offering a cultivar with bright white leaves, which seems to have all the other characteristics of the native version.


So my Dave Gouldon (amazing you worked with him Steph) book arrived yesterday. I have read other books of his which is why I bought this one. But I did burst out laughing when I saw his bee ID pages - bee identification is something I find so difficult, with so many looking like other species, males looking nothing like females and workers looking like neither.  Bees are so great at so many things it would be really helpful if they had small medium and large versions of the same colour scheme - workers, males and queens, then we could tell them all apart.
I have recognised buff tailed bumblebees and carder bees here, then last year tree bees appeared (usually too busy to sting, so far).  I expect there are also plenty of solitary bees around as we have the walls and rough grass for them, but I never seem to have my glasses on when I see one, and they never stop still for long enough for me to see them properly.


I went to look at my giant ivy today - lots of flowers and developing fruits but not an insect in sight, not even a fly.

[Fleecewife]

So, January 1st 2022 and what flowers do I have in my garden?:  Red Dead Nettle; Winter Jasmine; a few Roses; Wallflowers; Coloured Primrose; a few tiny Geraniums; Ivy (lots)


What insects do I have in my garden?  Midges, gnats and flies, no bees.  However, I like to think there will be several native Queen Bumble Bees tucked around the place, under the ground, in hay bales, cracks in the stone walls, lofts and attics 


What about you?

[arobwk]

Phacelia tanacetifolia (as mentioned by Q) is new to me, but, having taken a look, seems like a no brainer judging by on-line descriptions such as "Perhaps the single most attractive plant for bees on the planet" !

[ Going back some way on the forum, there was a thread that mentioned Tree Bumble Bees and I remember posting on it, BUT can I find it !!  I seem to recall, though, that it gave a link to a very useful bee species identifier:  If it did then I would almost certainly have saved that link ont' laptop, BUT I can't find that either !  Does anyone remember and have a link to that bee identifier please ? ]

[Penninehillbilly]

Oh dear, 2 flowers on the deadnettle, a few on the witch hazel on the twigs next to the wall,
Nothing on the winter Jasmine (only planted a year ago), no hellebore    not even buds on primrose.
Sometimes see midges in the air, but no pollinators.

[Steph Hen]

Maybe ID try https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bumblebee-species-guide/
Or any simple guide. Just focus on common six or so in springtime when it’s all queens. Then you’ll see small workers later and recognise them and then it’ll all get very confusing as males get in the go along with worn-out workers of all different sizes who’ve bleached fur or gone bald! but you’ll have a good grounding.
Unless you can go to a class/session I think the best way is what I was told to do with birds: sketch it. Not the outline (predraw the blobs of thorax and abdomen) but the colour stripes pattern. You can do this from a book, to practice before the queens come out. For me there’s a huge difference between looking at something and seeing a bee or focusing on the different parts of it to get your eye in on it.
 Photos are obviously great for detail and later comparison but I think there’s huge value in reproducing it either with coloured pencils on a sheet of predrawn blobs (thorax and abdomens) or just writing the colours you see is ok. Orange: black: orange: black: white.

Got to own it otherwise it stays foreign.

[Fleecewife]

That's an excellent idea Steph Hen. I never seem to get photos at the right angle for ID but drawing could work.
Some Bumble workers are really tiny, especially compared to the Queens.  Then there are the Cuckoo Bees - no pollen sacks on their legs.  And of course bees like Mason bees and other small solitary bees.  I seem to be able to confuse almost anything with something else 

[Steph Hen]

Black orange black black yellow white. It’ll jump out a mile that B. Vestalis isn’t a normal bumble, don’t worry about pollen baskets.

[waddy]

December / January Christmas box (Sarococcus confusa). Full of flowers, amazing scent and with the mild weather (when it's not raining) our honeybees have been taking full advantage. Mahonia also good at this time.

I will be growing lots of Phalaecia this year. It helps fill in when there is a shortage of nectar in early summer, normally called the June gap although it was early this year.

[Fleecewife]

Thanks for that [member=25518]waddy[/member] .  I had not heard of sarcococca confusa before.  BBC Wildlife says it has no known benefit to wildlife in the UK, but everyone else says totally the opposite  .  It will be going strait onto my wish list  .
Whereabouts are you that you have bees foraging today?