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Where are all the bees?

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A quick search brought this article up in Das Telegraph:

www.telegraph.co.uk

Experts warn of bumblebee decline after record rainfall in spring

A third of Britain’s 24 bee species listed as conservation priority amid large decrease in distribution
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk

Bumblebees are missing from gardens after record rainfall in spring, experts have warned.

The UK had the wettest spring on record, with rainfall on most days in April and May, delaying queen bees from setting up colonies, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust said.

As a result, bumblebee numbers for some of the UK’s 24 species appear to have been lower than normal this May, the charity said.

The observations were based on figures from its regular BeeWalk, in which members of the public report how many of the insects they see every kilometre.
Bumblebee queens can be spotted early to mid-spring looking for nest sites to establish their colonies, with a reduction in sightings until worker bee numbers are highest in mid-summer.

But this period appears to have been longer and later than normal this year, as queen bees struggled to forage in the weather.

This could mean that either more nests will have failed than normal, or simply that colony development has been slowed, meaning fewer worker bees out and about this June.

Ideal temperature of 30C​

Dr Richard Comont, the science manager of Bumblebee Conservation Trust, said: “When it’s absolutely teeming down, it’s very difficult for bees to fly and it wrecks the flowers. It also makes it feel cold and bumblebees need to keep their nests at an ideal temperature of about 30C.

“That warmth has to come from the queen and she can’t be in the nest incubating at the same time that she’s out foraging.
“In good years where it’s nice and warm, the queen doesn’t need to incubate the nest as much, and she can spend far more of her time out foraging.
“That means she’ll be able to produce her daughters, the workers more quickly,” he said.

After heatwave conditions in parts of the country this week, the Met Office said weather over the weekend would be “pretty mixed with weather systems crossing the country at times”.

But it added that many parts of the south would see very little rainfall, and there would be “lengthy dry interludes” in the north.
The outlook for the beginning of next week is a mixture of sunny spells and showers, with temperatures “rather cool overall”, the Met Office said.

Buglife, the charity dedicated to protecting insects and bugs, said last year’s flooding may also have wiped out many ground nesters and hibernators. They have also warned of long-term risks to bumblebee populations in the UK.

Paul Hetherington, the spokesman for Buglife, said: “Our Bugs Matter survey general flying insect abundance citizen science survey for 2023 showed a 78 per cent fall since 2004.”

He said this year had been the “perfect storm for insect declines”.

A third of the UK’s 24 bumblebee species are listed as conservation priority species because of large-scale declines in their distribution, blamed on loss of habitat, increased pesticide use and competition from honeybees.

Dr Comont said that while the spread of bumblebees was decreasing, there was no strong evidence of abundance decline in the areas where they remained.
“What we do see is that they are quite resilient,” he said. “As soon as we have a good spring, numbers may well increase again.”
This decline in bee numbers is also not responsible for the recent spike in hay fever symptoms, which is caused largely by grass pollens that are carried on the wind.
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COYBL25 said:
I’ve hardly seen any Swallows, House Martins or Swifts this year too, who live solely on insects.

However I’ve just been for my morning trail run and saw loads of butterflies basking in the sun.

It’s got to be down to how wet it’s been.
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We have literally one cabbage white in our garden, normally loads. The ragwort usually reeming with stuff, my wife day lillies normally absolutely buzzing - nothing. More noticeable cos of the council cut backs meaning verges etc all left to go wild and no-mow-may meaning there are so many more areas of wild flowers etc but drastically fewer insects. At least here it is
 

Dharma said:
See lots more Crows, Jackdaws, Magpies, Seagulls and the like. Scavengers. It's the End of Times...
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Unfortunately they are all quite heavily protected and wipe out most things in their path. I know most people don't like any aspect of lethal control but there is no balance, which you can mostly attribute to the actions of us. In my eyes it's therefore on us to manage and keep things in check.

You'll often see fields round here full to the brim of jackdaws and crows, but the fields and hedgerows are empty of any other nesting birds.
 

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