Make 2019 the Year of Pollinators

my3cents

Anyone with any spare space should try the biennial Vipers Burgloss.

https://wildseed.co.uk/species/view/48

http://www.rosybee.com/blog/2013/05/echium-vulgare

Harry Palmr

Is anyone else wondering where the bees are? In three gardens this has been a talking point and it's not as if any of them lack for pollination friendly plants. Are they late or are they not alive to be late. Sure there are some of course but the noisy buzz of activity that should be expected in pollinator rich locations is absent.

However just to show they are not all dead or still resting here's one I spotted today.



and the full sized image here https://funkyimg.com/view/2VsmF

Roen

Awash with them in front and back gardens. The fuschia and dog rose are alive with the sound of them.

magicbastarder

just got this photo half an hour ago - i'm fairly certain we have a bumblebee nest in the garden about 30 foot from where i took this.

We always have loads of bumblebees. I just popped out for a look and found plenty of the little guys about. Took some pics on my phone. (Not v.good)

Are bumblebees and bees attracted to different things? I don't see all that many bees or wasps about in comparison.

auspicious

Amazing photos BuileBeag!


This little guy was half asleep in the sun on a flowering teasel.

NIMAN

Maybe if this issue is so important, the Gov could throw a couple of million into seeds which could be given out to people who would be willing to get a wild area up and running in their gardens?

magicbastarder

'a couple of million' is not too far from the annual budget of the entire NPWS.

Igotadose

The pictures posted are great, but they're bumble bees. Where are the honeybees? That's the bigger problem, they're the ones that pollinate fruits and vegetables en masse.

Last year I saw a fair number of honeybees around the garden, there are beekeepers around and a bee can visit sites in something like an 8 km radius every day. This year I've yet to see a honeybee. About the same amount of bumbles as usual.

My advice is leave an area fallow and let the local wildflowers do their thing. Even here with all the farms around the grass doesn't dominate, lots of ragged robin, foxgloves and even the native blackberry in the 1/4 or so of the yard we never touch.

Seth Brundle

We had loads of both bumble and honey bees come to our large ceanothus in June and the lavender in July.

auspicious

There needs to be a widespread proactive push throughout society from farms to schools, from tidy towns to people's own back gardens to plant and keep planting pollinator friendly species.
Garden centres should have family days focused on pollinators and promotional education, whilst making a few pound at the same time.
More communication is needed to avoid losses
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thejournal.ie/pesticides-on-farms-are-wiping-out-entire-hives-4672197-Jun2019/%3famp=1

Igotadose

Igotadose wrote: »

The pictures posted are great, but they're bumble bees. Where are the honeybees?

My advice is leave an area fallow and let the local wildflowers do their thing. Even here with all the farms around the grass doesn't dominate, lots of ragged robin, foxgloves and even the native blackberry in the 1/4 or so of the yard we never touch.

Well that's why I asked if honey bees and bumble bees are attracted to the same things? Because we have lots of things I would have thought would attract both but I'm seeing feck all honey bees.

We also have a corner of our garden that we don't touch. It has thistle, buttercups, herb Robert, bramble, fox gloves and rosebay willowherb..

Then we have purposefully planted things like loads of lavender, poppies, Heather's and some herbs like chives that we let flower.

We have some fruit trees too, apple and cherry.

So wheres our bees? I haven't been actively searching them out, just quietly noting to myself that all I ever seem to see are the bumbles!

Harry Palmr

Pollinators need pollination paths so I'd be developing a programme along

- waterways
- greenways
- railways
- motorways, ring roads
- industrial and commercial zones

lordgoat

auspicious wrote: »

There needs to be a widespread proactive push throughout society from farms to schools, from tidy towns to people's own back gardens to plant and keep planting pollinator friendly species.
Garden centres should have family days focused on pollinators and promotional education, whilst making a few pound at the same time.
More communication is needed to avoid losses
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thejournal.ie/pesticides-on-farms-are-wiping-out-entire-hives-4672197-Jun2019/%3famp=1

Garden centres are an unknown danger as you often have no idea what plants have been treated with prior to purchase.

Deleted User wrote: »

Well that's why I asked if honey bees and bumble bees are attracted to the same things? Because we have lots of things I would have thought would attract both but I'm seeing feck all honey bees.

We also have a corner of our garden that we don't touch. It has thistle, buttercups, herb Robert, bramble, fox gloves and rosebay willowherb..

Then we have purposefully planted things like loads of lavender, poppies, Heather's and some herbs like chives that we let flower.

We have some fruit trees too, apple and cherry.

So wheres our bees? I haven't been actively searching them out, just quietly noting to myself that all I ever seem to see are the bumbles!

Have loads of bees of all varieties. I grew a lot of phacelia, going to seed now. Crimson clover and Borage still have upwards of 15-20 bees pretty much whenever I try and count. 2 average sized front gardens here

Harry Palmr

Just watching the meadow themed special edition of Gardeners World, well worth a look if you can find it. Talking about how every garden can form part of a network and I think I've decided to turn my side garden into a native wildfower meadow.

Harry Palmr

The rise of ‘ungardening’: how to turn a backyard into a wildlife haven

https://www.theguardian.com/news/shortcuts/2019/aug/05/garden-wildlife-haven-rewilding-ungardening-pond

Manicured privets and immaculate lawns are a thing of the past. Nowadays, it’s all about “ungardening”: eschewing toxic pesticides or sterile patio decking to create gardens that will encourage native wildlife to live and flourish. Rewilding, as it’s more commonly known, has been growing in popularity across Europe and the US, as green-fingered activists use their skills to reverse ecological decline and encourage the growth of native species.

FlipperThePriest

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/swarm-of-butterflies-arrives-on-irish-coast-in-unusual-migration-1.3978510?mode=amp

Swarms of Painted Ladies inbound. Seeing plenty of them here in the north east, not sure if much more than usual though.

Harry Palmr

Bump as it's that time of the year

Now does anyone have any views on those "wildflower meadows in a pouch" type products?

https://www.gardenhealth.com/natures-haven-easy-wildflowers

(oh yeah, make 2020 another year of the pollinators)

FlipperThePriest

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Bump as it's that time of the year

Now does anyone have any views on those "wildflower meadows in a pouch" type products?

https://www.gardenhealth.com/natures-haven-easy-wildflowers

(oh yeah, make 2020 another year of the pollinators)

I used that Nature's Haven pack last year, I was happy with the results:
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=110562440&postcount=242
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=110652034&postcount=262

A lot of growth now again so far in that bed. Not sure if anything from last year's pack will come through again though... a LOT of yarrow coming through at the moment, and it's right beside the lawn so I may have to brush a bit of weedkiller onto the yarrow, or else spray the lot.

coffey87

Will be starting my new garden over the summer, when I move into my new house. Have an old hedgerow that I didn't knock down running along the front and was thinking of making the area in front and maybe an area in the larger "lawn" area a wildflower meadow. Would it be best to just leave it and let it grow naturally or should I do some prep work to make it a success?

Harry Palmr

https://twitter.com/thejournal_ie/status/1254010768422572039

PCeeeee

Granted I'm home at lot more so far but I have seen a larger number of bees this year.

Blondie919

PCeeeee wrote: »

Granted I'm home at lot more so far but I have seen a larger number of bees this year.

I agree. I have more flowers than I had last year and they are different varieties. I'm seeing a lot of bees which I think and hope are honey bees. Hopefully I'll see more when the rest of my flowers are in bloom.

PCeeeee

Blondie919 wrote: »

I agree. I have more flowers than I had last year and they are different varieties. I'm seeing a lot of bees which I think and hope are honey bees. Hopefully I'll see more when the rest of my flowers are in bloom.

I'm afraid I'm fairly ignorant of the various varieties of bee. But have seen loads of the more 'wasp like' type lads and quite a few 'Bumble Bees'. I have a half wild garden so they have plenty to be mooching through.

Since I'm working from home I go for a walk at lunch; down to the bog usually and if it's sunny you can hear the gorse bushes buzzing away as you walk past them.

Blondie919

PCeeeee wrote: »

I'm afraid I'm fairly ignorant of the various varieties of bee. But have seen loads of the more 'wasp like' type lads and quite a few 'Bumble Bees'. I have a half wild garden so they have plenty to be mooching through.

Since I'm working from home I go for a walk at lunch; down to the bog usually and if it's sunny you can hear the gorse bushes buzzing away as you walk past them.

I don't really know the varieties either, had to google it. But I did take a video of one last week. I was sitting out the back and noticed a bee hovering close to me. I held out my hand to offer a landing pad. The bee kept hovering then went out of shot for a second. It landed on my hand while I videoed it. It's not clear as I can't make out any stripes on it. But it's sort of wasp-shaped but not as long. Definitely not a bumblebee though.

PCeeeee

Done a bit of looking there, looks like I will be a while learning.

"There are 101 bee species in Ireland. Nineteen of these species are
bumblebees, and more than half of these bumblebee species are
in decline"

https://www.biodiversityireland.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/The-state-of-Irelands-Bees.pdf

macraignil

Blondie919 wrote: »

I don't really know the varieties either, had to google it. But I did take a video of one last week. I was sitting out the back and noticed a bee hovering close to me. I held out my hand to offer a landing pad. The bee kept hovering then went out of shot for a second. It landed on my hand while I videoed it. It's not clear as I can't make out any stripes on it. But it's sort of wasp-shaped but not as long. Definitely not a bumblebee though.

Might also have been a hoverfly which are also great things to have in the garden.

scarepanda

I really want to learn at least some of the Bees around my area. Does anyone know where I could get my hands on a poster style list of bees, basically image, name, type and where they live/nest? Just something to throw up on the wall that can be easily glanced at to get basic info.

FlipperThePriest

Pollinators.ie is a brilliant resource. There's a great section about bee identification with PDF guides and such...

https://pollinators.ie/record-pollinators/id-guides/

Harry Palmr

https://twitter.com/IrishSeedSavers/status/1263088038772695040