Bumblebee Aware June 2022
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A
cool drink in the shade We
are now in the middle of summer and the temperatures have already reached
comfortable heights although it is not so pleasant if you are doing physical
work. Many bumblebee queens are in
the nest incubating eggs in a shaded part of a garden somewhere in the Thames
Valley while their workers are constantly busy collecting nectar and pollen.
Flying produces a lot of heat and it is not always easy for a bee, who
evolved in the Himalayas, to keep herself cool enough to avoid damage to her own
tissues. On the hottest days she
takes a siesta in the shade, but she needs water to survive if she is to avoid
exhaustion.
A
better idea is to use a glazed terracotta saucer from a Garden Centre and add a
selection of stones to provide islands with sloping sides for when the water
level varies. This is good for birds
too if placed in a suitably sheltered position and raised so cats and dogs
don’t use it. A clean block of
wood floating in a swimming pool or pond also works well as an island.
Adrian Doble (Bumblebee Conservation Trust volunteer) June 2022 |
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