I noticed recently, a couple of weekends ago, that Ariadne hive, pun intended, was buzzing with activity. Thought I'd share one reason why...
The girls were flying in loaded up with pollen...
Then I realized that they are in close proxmitiy to a large dewberry patch on our property that I've been cultivating and mowing around over the years to keep it just dewberries. See all those white flowers?
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| Beehive near dewberries |
They are dewberry blooms! That means that the bees don't have far to fly to reach this wonderful source of pollen. A quick flight over...
...and back, bringing pollen to the hive.
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| Dewberry patch |
This is just one part of this particular dewberry patch, it's probably an acre in size. As I walked up to it, you could literally HEAR the buzzing from the bees. We have dewberry patches scattered all around the property but because some areas are hard to reach, I've been mowing around this spot for a few years (and even cleared a path through it) to make gathering easier.
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| Bees on flowers |
Can you see the bees in this photo? There are four. It was the best picture I could get because they were always in motion. I wanted one that had lots of bees in it.
We're not 100% sure it's the bees (possibly the mild Winter, or a combination of both), but 2nd Family said they've never seen this many blooms on the dewberries. They also said their fruit trees are covered in blooms (and bees!) so we do believe that bees make the world a better place.
Ours are feeding on the willow and gorse at the moment I was working under the willow trees earlier and all I could hear was the bees :-)
ReplyDeleteDon't you love that humming sound? It's actually kinda peaceful when working outside...
Deletethis is terrific! i bet dewberry honey will be wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI su!!re hope so, between the millions of wildflowers around and the dewberries, it might be lovely!!
DeleteHaha! - your picture of the dewberry blooms with the bees is kinda one of those hidden object pictures - I had to really look to find all 4 bees.
ReplyDeleteWow, your dewberry patch is FULL of blooms! Plenty of dewberry jam and dewberry honey. Isn’t nature wonderful - when we allow the right conditions, nature knows how to make everything work together.
It is pretty cool to see. Nature does wonderful things at times. Fingers crossed all those blooms produce something, ha.
DeleteLooks like an Asian Lady beetle. I think you should look up on google. Real lady bugs are what you want - Asian not so much. Good luck. We have a slight problem with the Asian in our home. A blogger suggested a diffuser with lemon oil. Just ordered today. Ranee (MN)
ReplyDeleteIt was Terry Moore from Forever Decorating. Ranee
DeleteWow, I didn't know about that. Dang I thought it was a lady bug. I'll have to look more closely this weekend (if they are still around). Thank you for the info!!
Delete1st Man,
ReplyDeleteWith all your bee's collecting pollen, can't wait to hear about your honey later on.
OH how I hope we do have an ice harvest. Heck, even our very own first jar if that's all we get this first time, we'll be very happy!!
DeleteI love that your bees are happy. I really do wish we had neighborhood hives, not so much for honey collection but for pollination!
ReplyDeleteThe pollinating can not be underestimated, it's SO important huh? I tell people at work that the honey is the byproduct but really pollination is their main purpose.
DeleteHappy little bees makes for Happy owner. :}
ReplyDeleteI have noticed many more honey bees, wasps, and bubble bees that have been flying around here later; more so than other years.
Worked outside for most of the day planting flowers and had bees and wasps flying all around me.
Now I could do without the nasty wasps but the others are great. Maybe that's a good sign about all the ones you've seen?
Deletehoney bees are so sorely needed in this country. thank you for keeping them alive!
ReplyDeleteAMEN to that!!! Thank you for the kind words!
Deleteexcellent!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhy thank you for that!!!
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