Wednesday, 9 August 2023

WI

 I'm making no apologies for copying part of  a post from April last year because our speaker at Bacton WI was one I'd heard before  here in my village and written about - and it's an important subject.

This is what I wrote then...............

The speaker was brilliant and he gave a really good talk on "The Forgotten Bees"......that is all the hundreds of species of bee that are Not Honey Bees. In fact Honey Bees are causing all the other bees real problems because they carry some very nasty diseases and can get quite aggressive. He had photos from the US of Honey Bees unable to find enough food on their own attacking other bees and stealing pollen from their pollen sacs. 
More and more people are keeping bees but the way land is farmed means that there isn't enough food for them and gardeners prefer cut grass instead of dandelions and clover so we are no help either.
 He had results of recent surveys done on how many Honey Bee hives are kept in London - numbers have increased so much - especially during lockdown that other bees and insects have no food and have almost disappeared. 

The speaker, who's appropriate name really is Hawk Honey, was a long distance truck driver until an injury forced him to find a new job and he now works part time for Suffolk Wildlife Trust and gives talks about bees and advises on gardening for wildlife.
He had slides and videos of some of the various different solitary bees - some only feed on one type of flower or one family of plants. So many bees are on the Red Endangered lists but there's still time to help them. We should grow a wide variety of flowers for our gardens and choose those that have easily accessed pollen and persuade councils to plant up wild flower area on verges. Leaving a patch of clover to flower in a lawn and not cutting back any ivy until after it's flowered are both ways to help.
My favourite bee of those he told us about - not sure of it's Latin name - was a solitary bee who makes it's home only in empty snail shells. It has to be laying on bare ground because this clever bee burrows under the shell taking out the soil so the shell sits in a little hollow and moves it until the opening is exactly right. Then it lays its egg inside, closes up the shell and then covers it all with little twigs and dried grass - how amazing is that!




I've had this bee chart for a while but keep forgetting I've got it when I see any bees. 






In the business part of our meeting we are getting organised for next month which is being celebrated as National WI month and WI's around the country have been asked to plan some events that are open to everyone to attend. 
We are having a coffee morning, a craft afternoon and then our evening meeting will be an open meeting too. The speaker is talking about her days as a Bluebell Girl ( I need to look up exactly what that was)
More cake baking will be needed - still seems to be what WI's do best!

Back Tomorrow
Sue



33 comments:

  1. That is all so interesting, thanks, Sue. The next speaker sounds good too - I bet she will have some stories to tell. xx

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    1. I'm not sure about the next meeting - not something I'm especially interested in and there might be a lot of washing up again!

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  2. We do indeed leave half our lawn unmown until the flowers go in summer. It is the street view of the house so a bit controversial.

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    1. I left a corner unmown but all I got was long grass!

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  3. I am glad there are people fighting for the other bees that are part, or were, part of the landscape Sue. There is a movement in America to take up their lawns and grow flowers instead.

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    1. Too many honey bees and not enough plants for them and all the others . I think he said 250 different solitary bees

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  4. Betty Boothroyd was a Bluebell girl.

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  5. Really interesting to hear an update about bees in general not just honey bees. I have tried to plant only perennials which will provide insect food this this year and also left our front grass until June before cutting which lead to lots of comments from passers by! Catriona

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    1. I want to change some of the borders that were planted by the previous owners but it's a big job

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  6. Here they are trying to get people to give up manicured lawns. Very interesting info
    Cathy

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    1. I'd like less grass and bigger borders but it will take a lot of work to change things

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  7. How interesting. I knew there were many different bees but didn't know how honey bees can have a negative effect on them. I like the snail shell bee and hope to see one. We welcome all insects to our garden which is definitely not manicured, though all our neighbours go in for 'tidiness'.

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    1. We all need to leave bare ground he said and leave fallen leaves and dead grass - sounds good to me

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  8. It sounds a very interesting talk. I think I would have enjoyed it immensely. Right now I'm sorting through hundreds Of old 35 mm film prints. I've come across quite a few taken in my WI membership days. We have a local history group on Facebook and I've been sharing them on there. Talk about. a trip down memory lane.

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    1. Sounds as if your sorting is going to take a long while to finish.

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  9. Sadly people don’t realize how important the humble bee is and what the honey and was os so good for

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    1. The solitary bees that don't produce honey for us are more important than those "kept" in hives

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  10. I have not heard of the solitary bee and will google to learn more. US bees have been under threat for a while. Entire hives have died off. Some say it is due to the high use of toxic chemicals in the lawns and gardens. One neighbor insists on a perfect lawn: no clover, wildflowers, weeds. His use of chemicals is irresponsible. I'm planting more island beds to reduce lawn. My 2 new apple trees occupy a previous lawn space facing sun south.

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    1. THere are 250 different solitary bees . Chemicals have been killing farmers early for years - very nasty things still being used

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  11. Bees are such fascinating creatures, I waste quite a lot of time watching their polllen collections. I love honey too and really don't get it when some folk say they can't stand it!
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. The speaker said he spends a lot of time sitting on the ground watching bees!

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  12. My front "lawn" has been replaced with native and non-native perennial flowering plants. At this time of year it's beginning to look a bit "messy" as we've had very hot temperatures and some plants flowered & set seed early. Goldfinches are eating seeds of coneflowers and black-eyed susans already. Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, etc. continue to visit every day, and they're such a joy to observe. I also leave spots of bare ground for the solitary bees that live underground.

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    1. It sounds as if you have done everything possible to make bees etc welcome - they are a treat to watch especially now so many are rarely seen

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  13. Thank you for putting up this post.
    We have a large number of native bees here in Australia, and the vast majority of them are solitary. They are being out-competed by introduced European Honey Bees for both food and habitat. The way that Honey Bees forage can also mean that our little bees are unable to use the flowers again to get pollen. There is a lot of research being done on using native bees in agriculture: let's hope that continues.
    We are just back from a month in Ireland and saw a lot of little areas unmown and left alone, and with little signs saying "Managed for Wildlife". We saw this in Norway last year as well. Something we would do well to introduce here.

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    1. I should have said that the one native bee I really want to see, which unfortunately doesn't live in our state, is the Teddy Bear Bee, which as it's name suggests, is fluffy and furry just like a teddy bear!

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    2. It's so good to hear about bees in other countries and the work being done to provide for them - thank you.
      The Teddy Bear Bee sounds fascinating

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  14. We are seeing more and more types of bees here. Especially since we started planting sunflowers.

    God bless.

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  15. The big weed that I allow to grow on behind my French doors is a real bee magnet, so much so that I have been saving seeds from it to scatter willy nilly in appropriate places along the towpath.

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  16. Jane Hoggar[Bluebell girl] came to Leiston WI. She was very entertaining. [marilyn]

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  17. Even dandelions are useful for insects, including bees. It's a mistake to try to eradicate them before they've finished flowering.

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  18. I'm planting more and more bee and butterfly plants every year. I also have a lot of plants/flowers that the yellow finches love.

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