Where Have All the Bees Gone?

[sahgwa]

SW France. Middle of the countryside.

The honey bees here are currently enjoying all the lovely sugars of the windfall cherries in my garden. The Bumblebees are feasting on all the blooming shrubs and all the other types of insects are having fun with anything with colour on it .. lol

It's also coming up to glow-worm season so I'll be wandering around on a moonless night to see the girls lighting up in search of a shag.

Lol that's very bucolic. I like it; I dunno why I had you pictured as someone in Paris and dealing with Parisian crap. 
The world is so varied and fascinating I could make a persona or clone just doing apiary and honey and mead and that kind of thing.

[Wild Bill]

There are plenty of bees around in the UK as the weather is great and we had a very mild winter , I was briefly a apiarist 40 something years ago and have a lot of time for those little workers , But they do have enemies in the former of mites and pesticides which take a heavy toll on them and add in 5 g  and they are not having a  great time under this weird white sun

[Ray1990]

Thank you for the British Bee Buzz. Your American friends thank you.
We have some weeds that try to grow on our patio but we cut them. Maybe I will make a point of trying to let them flower this year.
The cat also likes to eat them so that's a plus.
What part of you UK are you in?

Northern England.

Yeah just let them flower a few days then remove them, leaving parts of the garden to go wild helps a lot too... I enjoy seeing what randomly grows from the birds that hunt around my little wild corner, there's always random berry bushes popping up and it's all going to be naturalised which only aids the local wildlife further. I've got 'wild' rocket that coming back every year that insects love. I let it all flower a few weeks then trim back when the flowers die off so it cannot seed. Basically 1 min of my time every month or so till autumn then I'll leave it to seed.

I've noticed insects prefer to drink from wicked water or condensation rather than standing water, wouldn't be too difficult to make an insect water feeder with a bit string or cloth and a bottle.

[rickymouse]

I saw quite a few fireflies down by the road when I was waiting to get the great granddaughter off the bus.  I know how they look when they fly, and some landed on the side window of the car and I saw their butts.  That was yesterday, I am waiting to see if they start blinking when it gets warmer.  I told the great granddaughter what they were and she wanted to look them up....so she knows now what they look like around here.  Evidently there are different kinds of fireflies, we only seem to have one kind of them around here that I have noticed. 

There have been years lately that I have not seen any, so it is nice to see them again.  No bees yet though, that is kind of concerning, we have some flowers outside but no bees yet.  Tree frogs don't seem to be out yet either in our yard, no toads yet either.  I did get the leaves mowed already, I hate killing the tree frogs in the grass here, we have three kinds of them we have identified over the last couple of years.....plus the toads.

Also, lots of blossoms on the cherry and apple  trees...and no bees around them.  Going to be a pretty fruitless summer.

[sahgwa]

There have been years lately that I have not seen any, so it is nice to see them again.  No bees yet though, that is kind of concerning, we have some flowers outside but no bees yet.  Tree frogs don't seem to be out yet either in our yard, no toads yet either.  I did get the leaves mowed already, I hate killing the tree frogs in the grass here, we have three kinds of them we have identified over the last couple of years.....plus the toads.

Also, lots of blossoms on the cherry and apple  trees...and no bees around them.  Going to be a pretty fruitless summer.

Hi Ricky,

Good to see you here.
The lack of bees is concerning.  
I am in a Rocky Mountain state, and not only have seen none in my Front Range town but also we went hiking in the mountains, 1.5 hours drive away,  this weekend and didn't see any bees either.  There MAY have been the tiny little ground bees that come out of holes, but that was it. .  .

[UltraBudgie]

Saw simply tons of bees the other week, pollinating the berry plants in the backyard. Counted more than 30 in a 15' stretch. They're there, doing their bee thing. Haven't seen as many of the carpenter bees here where I am now that I saw in season a few years ago -- there were hundreds then. But I've seen a few.

[andy06shake]

Plenty all around my back garden, all over the tomatoes, peas, raspberries, and blackcurrants.

Supposedly a possible record summer in the post this year, with lots of hot spells to come.

Coming from Scotland, that's always welcome.

[sahgwa]

Plenty all around my back garden, all over the tomatoes, peas, raspberries, and blackcurrants.

Supposedly a possible record summer in the post this year, with lots of hot spells to come.

Coming from Scotland, that's always welcome.

I am glad to hear reports of plenty bees in UK and France and East Coast of the States.

Here in tradition cowboy and mountain man country in the West we are lacking.

I found out there are more bee-nappings than I thought common:  https://www.cascadiadaily.com/2025/may/3...ar-lynden/


They are leasing these bees out to work in other states.  Migrant bees.
Support local bees! buzz buzz!

[sahgwa]

I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT THE WIFE AND I HAD OUR FIRST REAL BEE SIGHTING.
We were on our evening walk by some 'mock orange' bushes of the hydrangea variety , on the road/sidewalk side and she noticed on closer inspection the white blooms were swarming with honeybees. :)
Or at least, bees. Not wasps!  Very close to summer.  They have been hiding.
BUT definitely very few compared to usual. Not in my general neighbourhood.
I am waiting for my thistles to bloom instead of weeding them, and seeing if that attracts any bees.