A little rare good news from a personal observation

So we downsized and bought a small farmhouse on several acres of land. When we purchased this property, there was an active bee hive on the grounds. The previous owner was moving out of state and had no interest in it, nor did I. At the end of the first season, the bees seemed to have vacated the boxed and they were dismantled. I assumed the bee population was a direct result of the hive.

Three years later, as I wait for the grass to dry out enough to cut, I notice that with all the clover, there are massive amounts of honey bees on my flowers. Since this is several years after their habitat was removed, I can only assume the population is increasing and I see that as a good thing. This may not be what you see, but it's what I am seeing here.

Save the pollinators!

a reply to: network dude

Photos or it never happened
Do you know what type of bees they are?
ie; Apis Mellifera, Apis Mellifera Mellifera, Apis Mellifera Liguistica, ...

Actually, I googled honey bees and found this
www.osbeehives.com...

I hope they are good bees and you can help them out.
Oh, and if you get some honey please send me some
SnF

a reply to: network dude
Not seeing an increase in honey bees,but I am seeing a big increase in carpenter bees.One has drilled a hole in my picnic table,I let her be as she is raising her young.

a reply to: network dude

A little rare good news from a personal observation

That is good news!! I instructed the farmer that has leased my farm to not use any pesticides that endanger the bee population. We need the bees to pollinate the crops and vegetables.

originally posted by: Sunwolf
a reply to: network dude
Not seeing an increase in honey bees,but I am seeing a big increase in carpenter bees.One has drilled a hole in my picnic table,I let her be as she is raising her young.

The woodpeckers will come for them eventually.

a reply to: network dude

Wonderful news for sure!

I've noticed a large uptick in our local bumblebee population in our neighborhood this year. Not only are there many, many more than previous years, they're also a touch larger, and their colors are more sharp (less washed-out looking)

Another critter I've noticed is much bigger and has larger numbers this year compared to past ones is fireflies -- they're EVERYWHERE this year around here. They already were before, but this must have been a "baby boom" year for them.

That is some good news.

Around here, though, not so many insects so far. Hardly any bees and haven't seen a firefly yet. By this time of year, they are everywhere.

I truly hope the bees do come back.

a reply to: network dude

Might be something to do with the drop in air pollution down to the lockdown and fewer humans or planes in the sky as of late.

One of the things that has infected Americans in particular is the desire for a monocultured "perfect" lawn coupled with the desire to tame every inch of suburban lots (they even make rules about it in their HOAs, they want it so bad). The millions of acres that would normally have clover and a few weeds to feed the pollinators in the lean times in phenomenal. Nothing wrong with a bit of clover in the yard -- it even fixes nitrogen for your grass.

There are many things out of our direct control that affect pollinators (overuse of pesticides etc.), but there are definitely things we do that are unnecessary and detrimental overall.

a reply to: Nickn3

No woodpeckers here,further up in the mountains in abundance...

a reply to: network dude

I have seen more and more bumblebees every year.

This summer has been a great year for different kinds of swallowtail butterflies and larger moths too.

I have noticed a big amount of bumble bees (carpenter bees) around as well. They have been plentiful for a few years now. The honey bee (sorry, I don't get into their personal business) thing seems to have a significant uptick for my farm. We need the pollinators to keep our fruits coming. It was such good news for me, as the population has been noticeably smaller in the last years.

a reply to: network dude

My brother keeps bees. He grows his hives by collecting unwanted bees that have constructed hives that people find on their property.

He belongs to a group that teaches others how to do bee keeping, and they help them set up their first hives. They are very successful, and there seems to be plenty of bees out there.

a reply to: network dude

I was doing the Honeybee thing a few years back.
They prospered like crazy. It was a sticky situation
though when I finally got stung and my finger swelled
up like a Faschnacht sausage. At the time the going price
for an Epipen was 800.00US. Big Pharma cares about us. ($US$)
Evil bastards.
Anyway, the bees set new queens and the hives divided
and eventually went feral. I suspect that is what you are
experiencing yourself now. At first, I was disappointed.
But now I see that they have naturalized and still return to visit.
Maybe it is better this way,considering the massive HoneyBee declines
over the recent years.
I received a lot of great advice from members here about
beekeeping when I was starting out. Incredible people here.
One thing I would like to share... If you have tick/pest insect problems
and need to spray chems, do so Very Early in the day or Very Late
in the afternoon. This way the Honeybees have a living chance.
And isn't that what we all want? A living chance.

At any rate, NetworkDude, I have enjoyed reading your words over the
years and they will be certainly missed if ATS goes dark.
This site is important. Digital Warriors.

Live Long and Prosper!

a reply to: Groot

Lots more fireflies AND bees this year in my area. Very happy about it. I've been letting my clover grow by keeping my mow height up, and fill out on a lot of my yard area which is about 3/4 acre. The bees seem very happy and one an barely take a step without seeing a bee. With all the farming around here, it has depleted a lot of the natural habitat for bees. When you have 100's of thousands of acres with say soy beans or sugar beets or corn, there's only a small window of time for them to pollinate so what's a bee to do? People can help by planting flowers and clover. I'm hoping for record Monarch's this year as well as I've assisted in growing lots of Milkweed. Even the birds are happier this year.

Alright, I want everyone to know that I'm not the guy that wants to or enjoys spreading poison all over my yard to eliminate unwanted plants and insects, however . . .

I've been having a problem with ticks (years now) and other "pest" type bugs around the house, so I used a spectracide around the house and edge of the yard. It stopped the spring tick invasion back in April from getting a tick or two just going outside to zero for a couple months now. Also it stopped the grubs in the lawn that attracted those pesky moles.

There are several species of wild bees (2-3 bumbles and a couple similar to honey bees) along with numerous other insects not only on the abundant clover in the lawn, but on the wild and domestic flowers I've planted over the years.

Butterflies have been rather low I'd say. I've seen some Mourning Cloak, Spring Azures, Tiger Swallowtails, zero Monarchs or Karner Blues (threatened in Michigan I believe). Haven't been keeping track of moths and other night bugs around the porch light, but that seems moderate.

Reptiles, amphibians and other smaller critters seem to be pretty good. I helped a baby snapper cross the road, found a ring necked snake (rare and of concern), small mouthed salamander (also rare now) along with the good ole red backed salamanders. The spring pepper hatch was good in the early spring and a good number of toads (but less babies). Haven't seen the tree frogs but have heard them, no bulls that I've heard. Haven't seen any tortoises like box or wood turtles yet, but those aren't that common to see. No blue racers yet, not that uncommon to find a few through summer.

My GF has 1/2 acre commercial asparagus garden in the back yard along with flowers. Plenty of bees, plenty of flowers and asparagus but nowhere to sell either with the growers market being shut down. We just put out a table on the road with the produce, where travelers can help themselves and leave a donation if they are so inclined. It's astonishing how generous people are with their donations.

a reply to: olaru12

good to know it's not just local. I think the bee population is way more important than what's been seen in efforts to find a solution to lower hive numbers.

We have chickens who lay ass loads of eggs. I may start a road side stand to off load some. We just can't eat that damn many.