Where are all the bees?

[55palfers]

I live in Solihull in the West Midlands.

I love the scent of Lavender, so have a fair number of plants.

They are all flowering now but there is no sign of any bees.

In previous years the plants have been buzzing with hundreds of the little chaps, but now - not a one.

Has it just been too cold and wet this year or there are more sinister reasons afoot? Pesticides, predators, disease?

[bmwmike]

We've noticed that in our garden too, Cardiff. Everything is flowering etc and there is one bush that is usually so swamped with bees that the buzz is really loud, but nothing. It was sunny yesterday and i saw a few, i think i counted five, but seems a lot less than usual.

[Too Late]

Poor weather at the moment. Been a terrible year for bees so far

[The Three D Mucketeer]

I'm more surprised at the lack of wasps , in past years they been a real pain building nests in my eaves.

[The Gauge]

Bees tend to only come out to the flowers when it’s warm enough, which it currently isn’t.

This guy knows his onions and has done a video on the subject..

https://youtu.be/Io96wApYgRQ?si=_ZLtZiUcEgFkzKum

[Mr Pointy]

A minor point but if they are bees then they are chapesses, not chaps. And yes, there does seem to bee a lot fewer of them around this year.

[PositronicRay]

Discussing with my neighbour, normally our shared hedge and lavender are lousy with them, a few bumblebees but no honey bees spotted.

South Warwickshire.

[dickymint]

I’m a beekeeper my three hives (that’s around 180000 bees) are doing fine. It has been a slowish start this year and ‘the June gap’ was a lot earlier but from now on they will be flat out.

[mcelliott]

Been an excellent year for bees in our meadow, never seen so many, we have even delayed topping our grazing field because the Vetch is laden in them.

[dirky dirk]

i said this the other week,
remember the long car journies your car was covered in flies you dont get that anymore

[Colonel Cupcake]

Very few bees this year in my little patch of wilderness in North Yorkshire.

[Lotobear]

Our village has lots of lime trees and they are currently alive to the sound of bees - it's actually quite noisy (in a nice way)!

[Condi]

Warwickshire must be devoid of bees. Non in my garden either.

[Rich Boy Spanner]

I used to get lots, to the point where they were annoying. This year I have seen about 3, and one of those appears to be dead or nearly dead as it is just sat on driveway.

[hidetheelephants]

Have lots in our garden, blooms on Rhododendron and another tree we have not yet identified but has vast numbers of blooms, on warm days it sounds like Pearl Harbour.

[RSTurboPaul]

Rich Boy Spanner said:

I used to get lots, to the point where they were annoying. This year I have seen about 3, and one of those appears to be dead or nearly dead as it is just sat on driveway.

I have revived a struggling bee by gently placing it on a plate next to a small pool of honey - it seemed happy enough to consume some and then fly off, which was cool

[popeyewhite]

dirky dirk said:

i said this the other week,
remember the long car journies your car was covered in flies you dont get that anymore

Because they're all over my white golf! Not the normal big flies/moths etc, but plenty of smaller insects.

Bees are down here in sunny Cheshire as well, but they're still visiting the lupins and foxgloves.

[MesoForm]

I follow The Bumblebee conservation trust on Instagram, I'm pretty certain it was them who put up a little story saying it's normal for there to be a lull in the number of bees this time of year as we've had the queens out looking for somewhere to call home but haven't had time for the workers to emerge yet.
Certainly doesn't feel normal though - the clover is out on my lawn and normally there are loads of bees on it but only one or two at the moment, and that's when it's sunny.

Flies seem to be doing well this year - first time in a few years that I've had to clean my motorbike visor after a ride!

[glennjamin]

I've got a few Lavender plants last year there was a continuous flow of bees on them, this year I haven't seen a bee on them. Hopefully with a bit more sunshine they will be back

[skeeterm5]

We have a lot of wild Cumfrey around our pond and it attracts a lot of bees. I haven’t noticed any real difference this year to last.