Bumblebees play football. Samadi Galpayage, is a researcher from Queen Mary’s University in London (QMUL), and convinced that Bumble Bees get pleasure from play. In a 2022 edition of Nature, Samadi describes how he created an enclosed foraging area for a cohort of captive Bumble Bees with a “diversion” of “toys” placed on route. The […]

After the last Ice Age until about a century back, honeybees in Northern Europe were described as Black Bees. Due to changes in farming practices during the Victorian period and, in the UK, after the devastating “Isle of Wight Disease” outbreak in the early 1900’s, numbers tumbled. To restore their stocks, British beekeepers imported new

According to viral memes that you may have seen, mobile phone signals (and especially the newer 5G variety), are deadly to bees. Spoiler, they’re really not. The science is clear, proven and adamant that since mobile towers operate with ‘non-ionising radiation’ they can not damage living tissue, penetrate your tin-foil hat or give you COVID

Healthy bees poop on the wing, which is a good reason not to dry your washing near a bee hive. Bee poo is generally bright yellow and high in pollen remnants. However, if the droppings are browner and near or in the hive, a beekeepers thoughts will go in the direction of two fungal infections,

Hint, it’s a myth. Probably? According to the Internet, (and many beekeepers and candle-makers for that matter) among the many charms of pure beeswax candles is a strange alchemy by which good ‘negative ions’ are released during burning. This sounds reassuringly like science, but for it to be true, there would need to be some

Did you know that a hive of honey bees will need to fly in excess of 50,000 miles (or 80,500 km) between them to produce enough honey for a piffling half kilo jar of the liquid gold? If only human beings could fly proportionate distances and produce zero carbon doing so? Supermarket bulk honey, of

Some beekeepers are convinced that a swarm of bees can be charmed into landing by “tanging” any piece of metal that comes to hand. Science has never been able to prove this assertion though and it may actually be a piece of jumbled ‘folk wisdom’. It may be relatively easy to see how this narrative

Did you know that modern humans living in the the Spider Caves (Cuevas de la araña) in Spain around 10,000 years ago painted images of honey collection on the walls of their home? One famous picture, known as “the honey collector” is arguably the oldest evidence of our species interaction with bees.

Many people think that the runny liquid state of honey is the only natural form. This mistake bemuses beekeepers. It hasn’t gone off, it has simply formed enough sugar crystals to change consistency. Solidifying isn’t permanent either. If you like your honey runny, simply place the jar in warm water for a short while The

If Asian Hornets collaborated? Although technically not bees, Bee Pirates is a term used to denote any of a group of digging solitary wasps, from the family Crabronidae, found in South Africa. These predatory wasps are especially noted for their habit of killing and consuming honey bees. Note: These predators are also known as Bee

Although we tend to think of pollinators in terms of daylight visitors like bees and butterflies, spare a thought for the night shift. Although moths do not carry out as many visits to flowers during the hours of darkness, only 15% of the total, 2021 research by the University of Sussex found that their efforts