Maybe I should ask a bumblebee to chew on a bee fact…then it might arrive early!
What?
What?
I do this for free!
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 81
Research found that tomato plants flowered up to 30 days earlier in response to their leaves being chewed by hungry #bumblebees.
When this behaviour is mimicked by cutting the leaves they only flower 5 days earlier!
#bees
Here is a Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) in flight. A magnificent ginger marmelade colour.
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 80
A recent study in Sweden has found that music can affect bumblebee mating - specifically the length of mating events.
In a laboratory environment broadcasting soul songs such as Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’ resulted in longer and more frequent mating events.
Songs by #TaylorSwift were found to decrease mating event duration and often inhibit entirely mating between #bumblebees.
#bees
#nature
#April
Told you I’d be back!
With today’s fact.
Still not sure if it’s late or not but it’s definitely a goodie regardless of the time.
And I am…
Regardless of the time!
Go easy folks.
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 79
Recent research suggests that if food is scarce hungry #bumblebees will chew on plant leaves - not to eat them - but to stress the plant causing it to #flower thus providing earlier #pollen for the #bees.
Chew on that! 
Late?
Not sure. They’ve been messing with the clocks again…and given my already tumultuous relationship with time…well…it wouldn’t surprise me if this wasn’t even today’s fact!
It’s not?
Ok
I need another fact.
I’ll be back!
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 78
Unlike females, male #bumblebees don’t perform learning flights on leaving the nest. They fly directly away never looking back. 
They do however perform learning flights on leaving #flowers to memorise location.
#bees
Please note:
All #bees in these clips were immediately rescued and survived.
Rescue was delayed for less than a minute to record their plight to make more people aware of this issue.
Whilst we concentrate on bees here all #insects should be shown the same consideration.
11/11
#nature
#wildlife
#help
#sanctuary
#bumblebees
#spring
#saturday
So you need to act fast - don’t leave her suffer while you do something else (with good intentions to get to her at some stage - which you might forget).
Why?
#Bumblebees, even with a full stomach, have about 40 minutes of ‘energy’ in them before…
3/11
#Bumblebees don’t understand glass - they get confused and trapped and exhausted.
And they die.
Likewise with polytunnel plastic.
So if you see or hear a bumblebee buzzing and banging against a window in your house SHE NEEDS YOUR HELP - AND QUICKLY!
She’s in trouble.
2/11
Queen #BUMBLEBEES - HELP THEM OUT!
Another Saturday morning means another vital thread concerning #bumblebee queens at this time of year!
Please #repost/#share as EVERY QUEEN BEE THAT SURVIVES GETS TO ESTABLISH A NEST that otherwise would not happen. Let me explain.
1/11
#bees
And I get lost in a drop down menu.
Go easy folks.
Stop and listen to the hum of a passing bumble if you’re lucky enough to still have them in your vicinity.
#nature
#planet
#pollinators
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 75
#Bumblebees are able to start foraging earlier in the morning and continue until later in the evening when landmarks aren’t visible as they can use the polarised light of the sky as a GPS for guidance to their nest!
#bees
(Cobalt:) Six tiny bees appear in front of you! In unison, they say: "I hope today is a good day for you!"
(They live here: https://artisans.coop/products/very-tiny-knitted-bee )
Thank you for reading and caring.
PLEASE #repost.
Don’t just like, #share.
The more informed, the more queens survive and the more #bumblebees we have.
Simple.
Our native wild #bees are in serious trouble and we need to be there for them every way we can.
Thanks again for helping!
For caring.
For sharing.
A little bit of good in a world that so needs it.
9/9
..be harmful to #bumblebees. Usually once she takes on some sugars & heats up she’ll happily fly off. Don’t bring her indoors for long periods! If she has already established a nest and laid eggs she needs to get back to sit on them to keep them warm - yes just like a hen!
8/9
As with sleeping dogs leave resting #bumblebees lie - for up to an hour before intervening. (Unless of course she is in imminent danger whereby she should be carefully moved to a safe place). However if after about an hour she is still present then she may need assistance.
6/9
It’s that time of year - people asking us about #bumblebees - WHY THEY’RE SEEING THEM ON THE GROUND - so here’s a thread to explain what they’re up to.
Please #repost.
Every #queen that survives means a new colony that gets to exist & produce new queen #bees for next year!
So this is important to share.
Thank you.
1/9
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 73
The species of bumblebee that inhabit more tropical parts of the world - where the growing season is long - can have colony cycles of up to two years and nests containing up to 2000 bees at any one time.
#bees
#bumblebees
#nature
#insects
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 72
Arctic #bumblebees have adapted to (up to now!) a short cool flowering season.
They have large first broods of about 16 female workers that forage continuously all day and overnight during bright #arctic nights.
#bees
#nature
#pollinators
#insects
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 68
With #bumblebees the size of the colony is in part determined by the length of the growing season in the region they inhabit.
In regions with shorter forage growing seasons smaller colonies tend to be maintained.
#bees
#nature
#pollinators
#wildflowers
#naturephotography
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 67
Depending on species and global location, worker #bumblebees - who are all female - only live for between 2 and 6 weeks.
Those workers who perform in-nest duties tend to live longer than their foraging counterparts.
#bees
#nature
#wildlife
#naturephotography
#climate #sanctuary
