Saturday 29 June 2013

Save A Bee Today


I find it impossible to kill any creature, I even open the window for a fly or wasp. I shoo mice out of the compost heap and garage; I pick up every bird which has flown into a window and prop it up somewhere safe until it has recovered. Every dead bird or mole I find is buried with full honours. 

It’s a good thing we have no poisonous snakes and other dangerous creatures; I’d probably see them off the premises with a rucksack full of goodies and a map to the nearest animal shelter.

Whenever a bee loses its way and ends up in the house, usually bashing into the window pane again and again, I try to save it by means of a clear plastic cup and a piece of card. Most of the time I succeed.  UK bees are on the endangered species list and we must look after them to safeguard our own future.

This morning before breakfast I found a huge bumble bee in the conservatory. It looked dead, flattened and legs akimbo, not surprising after twelve hours in solitary confinement without food or drink. Clearing it away after breakfast I pushed it a little and suddenly the legs twitched. Ah, signs of life, I thought, and immediately the full rescue package came into effect. I picked it up very carefully, took it outside and pushed it gently deep into a peony. A few minutes later it moved again.


The bumble bee, legs still akimbo, shoved its bottom around and straightened its wings. After a further five minutes of immobility it moved again, climbing further into the flower head and visibly disturbing the petals as it moved in and out.


Fifteen minutes later I went out again to check on the humble bumble’s progress and what do you know, it was climbing about with small sacks of pollen on its legs, making for the way out. The next time I looked it had gone. Mission accomplished! 


46 comments:

  1. you might could give one sugar water if she hasn't the strength to rummage in peonies.

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  2. I do just what you do, rescuing any spider or bee I find in the house or outside. I eat meat though, as long as someone else kills it for me! Once my dh and I had a pet spider in our house and we put up a sign "do not disturb our spider" for guests to read. In that same house we fed a sad three legged grey mouse, it was very cute.

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  3. Wonderful, Friko!
    Now sign up to programmes to ban products which kill bees. We had this in France...and now in Costa Rica.

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  4. Bless you and your caring heart, Friko. I'd say how you feel about the bee is reflected in your beautiful garden. I've just spent time reading about your open day, sounds like a success. And I do agree about the table!

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  5. Bless your kindred heart, dear Friko


    Aloha

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  6. smiles...good on you...and your heart shines even for the little things...and in coming back to check on it too...happy saturday friko

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  7. Very touchy! Thank you Friko! :-)

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  8. Frico, I often see bumble bees in the morning in my greenhouse or lying in the bed. When sun rises they get warm after cold night and continue their work checking flowers. I think your was not near dead, it was cold. I love bumble bees they aren't aggressive as wasps and work until darkness. I love your macros!
    Have a nice Sunday!

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  9. Hi Friko - I certainly let all creatures out .. sadly I don't have wonderful peonies to put said insects on .. aren't they stunning - also living upstairs .. doesn't exactly help ... but I do what I can ... stunningly beautiful day down here ... sun and hardly any wind .. cheers and happy Sunday - Hilary

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  10. Nice save..and your pics are incredible!
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  11. I do the same thing Friko, I save a bee most days. And release flies etc.
    Your photos are amazing. Perhaps I should put them in my red peonies (I love your pink ones).

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  12. If I were that bumble bee, I'd think I was in bee heaven to wake up and find myself deep in a peony! Lucky bee.

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  13. You and I are much alike in this rescue area. We just had a fledgling (Robin) in the yard for 3 days. This little fellow was just to fat to get up off the ground. His parents had fed him very well. He hopped about the first day and didn't seem to mind us in the yard, as we have been observing them and saving them from the neighbours cats a few times. The Mother would sit on the fence and call and the little fella would come out of hiding and be fed. Eventually his wings grew a bit more in those three days and with much coaxing from the parents, finally he had hopped to the top of the fence and jumped? - spread his little wings, soared and flew up to the tree branch. He did this for the next hour - testing out this new skill he realized he had and then was gone with both parents. I am directing lost things to Friko's world. Lovely story and have a wonderful day. Lilly

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  14. Oh, this makes me feel so good! I like bees, and the idea of your having saved one endears you to me. There's a star in your heavenly crown, for sure.

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  15. prachtig ik hou hier van.

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  16. I took a seminar on bees recently and should dig out my notes and pull together a post on that. It was fascinating. Yes the European bee, not indigenous to here, is having serious problems with hive collapse. We have lots of other pollinators, but none that we can control as we do those.

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  17. Friko, this tale is so dreamlike. Have you thought of adapting the event into a short story? I could also imagine it as a film. I am trying to think of what it would be like to wake up from a long sleep and find that my scented pillow was a peony. Would I want to linger there forever, or actually attempt to fly away so that I might be able to tell others about a strange dream I had.

    Truly a beautiful post, complete with those close up views. xo

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  18. When a worker bee is ready to die, he looks for a flower, preferably a rose, where he will lay his head on a petal and go to sleep (a bee's idea of heaven).

    No doubt this fellow had thought he found his final resting place and was ready to meet his maker, when all of a sudden a large creature, the kind you avoid, tumbled him around. He then had to take his poor tired body off to find a more peaceful final resting place. Dianne

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  19. I'll now think of you as the bee rescuer!

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  20. Good for you, Friko! I have a soft spot for creatures, too. And bees are really endangered world wide.

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  21. Great save and fabulous pictures. Imagine him telling his buddies about his near death experience, "And then I woke up in pink peony heaven..."

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  22. Like you, rescuing creatures is automatic here! Mark, over at Nature's Place on my blog list, puts small spots of honey in front of failing butterflies and bees and it seems to have remarkable effects.

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  23. Nice save, and great to see the "on the spot" photos as it took place! I did laugh out loud at this: "It’s a good thing we have no poisonous snakes and other dangerous creatures; I’d probably see them off the premises with a rucksack full of goodies and a map to the nearest animal shelter." We have a serious mouse problem here from time to time, and the solution has been to catch them live, then send them off to a beautiful field to live out their natural life. What we learned over time, however, is, if we don't want them back, with offspring, the beautiful field has to be several miles away, so J was charged with dropping them off half-way between home and work.

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  24. You are a very kind-hearted person!

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  25. God, I love those photos! Bees are among my favorite things in the world. I don't know how anyone could kill one, especially now that their numbers are threatened, and we know how important they are (not to mention that they're among the most amazing creatures in the universe).

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  26. Nicely done! I do love bumble bees - so friendly and industrious.

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  27. Very impressive story; very impressive photos too!

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  28. You have such a pure soul, dear lady!! I am so glad the bee survived. :)

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  29. Who wouldn't recover in the middle of a peony like that? I'm glad the bee had the good sense to end up on your property.

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  30. Beautiful you. It makes me happy to think of your saving that bee. Unfortunately we didn't have as positive results with a sparrow that had been attacked by another bird. We kept it in a small cage for about an hour and when it appeared to have regained a bit of strength rather than pass away, we brought it into the local vet who acts as a triage unit for wildlife rescue services. Sadly, the wee thing had been damaged beyond repair and they euthanized it. I was sad for that but glad that it didn't continue suffering. Anyway, I'm glad for you and your recovered bee.

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  31. If we look at our world as a giant house of cards , every piece is as vital as the next and we must protect every single one .
    Though I must confess to finding bumble bees more appealing than mice and slugs , which I tend to "export" to far-off corners of town .

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  32. Hooray for Friko! I know you don't want awards but I think you deserve a shiny, gold halo - oh, sorry, I see you already have one :)

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  33. There's a glass in my kitchen that I keep speficically for the purpose of rescuing flying things that have lost their way and ended up in my flat. The other night, I used it to save a hornet. These are on the list of endangered species in Germany, and although I do not feel at ease around them, I understand they should not be killed. That one was really LOOKING at me, it had a proper little face!

    Good to know "your" bumblebee recovered.

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  34. "Hooray for Friko," say the bees, "our superhero." I'll save a bee, but swat a mosquito.

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  35. Oh yay! I also trap anything that comes in inadvertently and will die if it can't get back outside, even wasps. I'm thinking about getting a bee hive, not to 'keep' bees so much, or to have the honey but just so there are bees around. I've been told by several beekeepers that that is possible. sort of like a wild hive only in a box on the property.

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  36. Super photos and lucky bumble bee. I rescued one from the floor under the bedroom window this afternoon, but lacking peonies, I put it in the flower border.

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  37. Ah Friko - you've given all of us such a sweet moment. I love that side of you!

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  38. What a fortunate bumblebee. You are a good egg, U.

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  39. It's so good to see something, even a little entity, come back to life. I haven't seen any honey bees this year and not the usual number of bumble bees - sad.

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  40. Excellent photos! And, what determination!

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  41. First of ll, you are quite wonderful for doing this. And it is amazing, isn't it, so see this bee regain strength and power and fly off... Bravo, Friko. And your photos are terrific, too!

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  42. Your kindness warms my heart, Friko. Our bees are being watched closely here and I'm a bee watcher, reporting what/when/where I find them. What discourages me, scares me, really, is that I've only been able to report to bumblers so far this summer - and we have lots of pollinators in our garden!

    Your photos are breathtaking - and, those peonies are obviously quite filling for this bee.

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  43. Well done Friko! I feel as you do about little creatures, even cockroaches. They all have a right to live and it is rewarding to help them - Dave

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