A turn-up for the box

It wasn't a bee day today, so it was a case of taking stock, doing a bit more "bee thinking" (seeing the world from a bee's eyes to improve the landscaping) and adding some grasses to the garden.

Based on several Bumbles recently bumbling around looking for a nest site on our back lawn, we figured that the longer grass must have been an attraction for them. So, as well as adding some dried grass around our nestbox entrances, with the aim of making them (theoretically) look a bit more like a grassy hummock, we also decided to add some potted grasses to create taller stems that bees would want to dive down into and look under. 

Our other idea was to create a "runway" from the lawn to the rear nest box, in the hope that if bees also searched along it, they would naturally find the nestbox. It may sound like a crazy idea, but only yesterday on the news (13th April 2011) a project in Yorkshire was announced to create "bee roads" across the county, to help provide a habitat for them to feed and thrive. 

 Grass "runway" to the rear nestboxWe will probably still cover the rear nestbox with more grass and make it much more camouflaged, once we are happy this is the best location. 

Bee's-eye view of the front nestbox.. starting to look nicely disguised. Perfect for exploration!I was fooling about creating a "bee's-eye" video on my iPhone, flying from plant to plant and we were observing all the wonderful handiwork BCW (bee catching wizard) had been doing through the day when I spotted a bufftail (BB14) landing on the grass and looking for a place to bed down! I couldn't quite believe it, as it was by now 6.30pm and had been cold all day. BCW had been out late afternoon and not seen any bees, although had seen a deer and nearly jumped out of her skin! The outdoor temperature was about 10.4 degrees, so this little Queen was very late to be out finding somewhere to bed down.

BCW rushed for our pot and caught her; so, of course, we were able to take her straight to the front nestbox and encourage her to enter. That took about 10 minutes, during which time it was feeling very chilly. BB14 she was very calm and placid, and cleaning herself inside the pot and not really trying to escape. This is unlike the redtails, which seem a lot more feisty and sometimes try biting their way out with their mandibles. Eventually she realised she could enter the nestbox and off she went.

Bumblebum 14 (Bufftail) going into the nestbox

Because of the failing light we couldn't really make anything out on the camera, so we were relying on the audio to hear what she was up to. We heard about 10 minutes of scratching around, hopefully making a bed! After that it went silent - and by about 8pm she still hadn't come out of the box, so we assume she has stayed the night! Looking forward to seeing what happens in the morning and also to getting the new infrared light I've ordered from eBay! 

Flying visit

I wasn't at home today but BCW was out and busy on the hunt for more bees!

Around about lunchtime BCW reported she thought she could hear scratching from inside the box with the camera/mic; and possibly some movement of the nesting material near the entrance. It wasn't totally conclusive though, as it was possible the wind was causing the movement and the lid to rattle a little bit. Tantalising!

Then between 2 and 2.15 BCW caught another redtail (Bb12). (While out she also saw a Carder and a Bufftail). BB12 went into the box without too much trouble and went straight to the back left corner - which is different to all the others, who have gone to the front left corner. She didn't stay still at all like all the others, but just explored a little. But she only stayed about 2 minutes before coming out. 

When she left she walked out onto the new grass outside and then when she took off she hovered back and forth over the box and flowers, gradually getting higher and higher. Then she flew off quite gently.

This is completely different behaviour to what we have seen before. The shortest any bee has stayed to date has been 20 mins, so this is a new "fastest exit" time! And, although the bees have left in a spiral, today's behaviour seems much more like the "landmarking" movements that bees make when, for example, they encounter humans in a field (see our research papers). In such scenarios they fly within about 2 metres of the human, then swing back and forth from left to right at a height of between 2 and 4 metres, and then perform a couple of circles. This is thought to be the Bumble taking a navigational note of what they see - and it's really amazing to experience when you are out in the fields: they all do it!

So, was little redtail getting her bearings for the nestbox? Again, we shan't know unless she returns, but this is probably the best behaviour we have seen so far.

So, this also begs the question about the 2 minutes inside the box; what was going on there? Here are a few theories:

• She was very frightened/stressed and so left immediately - this doesn't seem to fit, she was calm and co-operative, more than many of the others; and the most agitated bees have actually stayed still inside the box after entering.
• She thought maybe there was another animal in the box or that it was in use - there is perhaps a risk that the small amount of grass we have put in the box smells a bit fresh and she thinks an animal has placed it there recently (well, a human has!) 
• Maybe there was another animal in there - perhaps there was a bee in there already, that BCW heard earlier?
• She really liked it, knew it was a great nest, and decided to make a mental note of it and go out foraging

So, again, until some time has passed we cannot know what was going on in little BB12's head!

This is the new layout in the boxes by the way, with a small amount of cut grass inside.

 new box layout with cut grass and less bedding overall

An hour later, between 3 and 3.15pm, BCW then reported catching another redtail in the back garden! This is amazing to see them actually in the garden. However, BB13 was not very co-oeprative and she just refused to go into the front nest box. Maybe this was the same bee as BB11! In the end, BCW let her go rather than stress her too much. 

Again we applied a bit of "bee thinking" and had the brainwave of putting grass down between the lawn and the rear box. Since we have now seen 5 redtails searching the back lawn (which needs cutting!) we thought it made sense to "extend" the lawn across the narrow gravel border to the box. This way they might actually just explore all the way up to the box. And with the grass now around the front of the box to make it look more like a little nesting hole in a grassy mound, you never know, they might just be fooled inside it!

That's the theory anyway! 

Our new profile picture

Twitter is a wonderful thing; I've made many friends, met new locals and that's even how I met BCW (Bee Catching Wizard). I've also met many talented creative types and one of these is @michelldh who creates fabulous illustrations in her spare time. 

I asked Michelle if she would create a bumblebee avatar for our bumblebee twitter account and she willingly agreed. So here it is. She is a Queen white-tail (Bombus Lucorum), with a royal crown for good measure.

BeeBoxALula avatar by MichelleWe are thrilled with our new, distinctive Queen Bee! By way of thanks, please check out Michelle's Blog - "Techie Minx".

Don't call us, we'll call on you

BCW caught one redtail today - it took quite a while and the bees certainly seem to be out later as the days get longer and warmer. She was caught at about 4 o'clock after quite a lot of searching. The nest-searchers were not in the usual place today but have moved a little up the road (closer to our home, which is handy!). Whether this says something about availability of sites, we don't know. 

What we are seeing more and more of every day is "fly bees": little bee-like creatures that hover and dart and fly round with their tongues out. They are pretty funny. We didn't really know they existed until we saw one the other day and investigated. It seems they are quite parasitic and spray their eggs on pollen sites so they get picked up by bees and pollinators. Cheeky!

We see them darting about the garden looking to spread their egges - so perhaps it gives us a clue where we should expect to see bees too.

We were going to try a using a tube into the nest today to see if that improved the residency time of the queen. But we were concerned the tube we had was too narrow for BB11 (Redtail) to fit through, so while trying to nest her, we immediately reverted to our usual technique. 

BB11 was quite feisty, trying to escape, and took about 15 - 20 minutes to finally make her way into the box. Neither of us like it when this happens, but we feel we have to persist, not just due to the effort in catching the bee, but also because we know we are really doing her a favour and giving her a good nest if only she'd check it out!  BB11 stayed about 20 minutes during which there was the now-typical scratching around in the box, then left. She too spiralled up away from the box. I tried to capture it on video not very successfully; we just don't know if this is part of her "landmarking".

So, disappointment that she didn't stay the night but left at about 5pm - which we were surprised by; obviously she felt she could still find somewhere to stay. The box temp (outside) was about 15 degrees at the time.

However, the exciting news was seeing two redtails nest searching on our lawn during the afternoon. Stupidly we didn't have pots ready in time to be able to catch them, but it's so encouraging that they are even coming to our garden. Again, whether this indicates an increase in demand (more bees coming out of hibernation) or a reduction in supply (good sites being taken) we don't know. The frustrating thing, of course, is they did not check out the nestbox at the back, just feet away!

Every day we are thinking carefully about how we can make the box(es) more attractive and thinking like a bee to figure out what to do.So, today we added some dried cut grass to the outside (and a little inside) to make it appear more like an entrance in a grassy bank. Ok, so it's not that realistic at the moment, but I think in the fullness of time we could practically bury the box in a mound of grass and plants that make it very realistic!

bees'-eye view of the grassy entrance

Between 4.30pm and 5.30pm we also saw two redtails nest searching in our lavender at the front. Again, a little frustration they did not find the box (although we were part way through our operation with BB11, so it wouldn't have helped) but fantastic news they are getting so close and exploring just a few feet away.

It would be wonderful to think that if we worked hard and created a perfect environment for them, we might get one nesting of its own accord. I had begun to think that we would not see them nest-searching anywhere nearby, after all it's a housing estate and we are right on the road; so I'm incredibly encouraged to see this behaviour. The second of these redtails shot across the road to a neighbour's lawn and spent about 15 mins exploring every square metre of it. Amazing to watch. BCW was poised to try and catch it, but had to avoid drawing attention to herself and in the end it proved impossible, which was a shame. Great to see though.

Meanwhile during the afternoon, I had been busy completing the irrigation system. All the supply pipes are now buried and round the edges of the garden is a pipe we can tap off wherever we put pots. A computerised timer controls the watering cycle. This means there is no limit now to the plants and pots we can buy (and where we can site them) to encourage the bees. Feeling pleased with this :)

2 up, 2 down

Another hive of activity today - and that was just us! 

The main activities were:

• catch some new bees to introduce to the nest, since BB7 and BB8
• buy a "Blue Tit Rhododenron" which we identified as being very popular with Bumbles
• check we had the ants under control (which seems the be the case) 
• try out sugar/apple sauce for its attractiveness to Bumbles (nothing conclusive to report yet)
• upgrade our automated irrigation system to cope with all the new plants
• produce a youtube video of Bee8 in her box

 First job was a trip to the garden centre to get the irrigation gear and the Rhododendron. BCW (Bee Catching Wizard) had assured me it was a perfect plant for attracting Bumblebees (even though it is not on the suggested BBCT list). Well, even as we carried it through the garden centre, we had a Bufftail land on it and take a ride.

 A Bufftail taking a ride on our RhododenronOnce home we went out bee-catching again; we are getting a feel for a good time, usually between about 2.30pm and 4pm. I'm starting to take lots of temperature readings to see whether there is a correlation between temperature levels and bee nest-searching activity. At about 3pm we were able to find two redtails quite easily (not to mention seeing one in our own garden, searching in the longer grass). 

For once I accompanied BCW and I also caught a Redtail of my own, so we came home with two together. My Redtail (BB9) looked a little more agitated so we introduced her to the front nestbox straight away, she was well behaved and went straight in without fuss. She was off camera for a while and then became visible and was scratching around and cleaning as all they all seem to do. At one point it looked like she was burying down into the bedding, but she did a circle and came back where she started!

While I kept watch BCW introduced BB10 to the back nestbox and kept watch for a while. We have no camera in that box yet, so sadly we can't really be sure what happened once we stopped looking. 

Meanwhile BB9 at the front had decided to leave quite quickly (after 20 - 30 mins). She gave the impression of another little spiral as she left - we can't really work out if this is a navigational thing or not. I'm not 100% convinced - it doesn't seem as though the bee is really taking it all in! Just a hunch :)

So BCW went off there and then to catch another bee. By now it was about 4.30. After an hour and a half she had had no luck. By this time the bees seem to be quite frantic to bed down, so even if you do see them, they are more frenzied and much harder to catch. 

Meanwhile I was working on upgrading our automated irrigation system. Phase 1 and 1.5 of this was completed some time ago, but all the new plants and the addition of the nestbox at the back has created more plants to water over a wider area than before and the old system was not capable of supporting this. The plan is to provide a main irrigation supply round all four edges of the garden, which we can then tap off at any point to water any pots, wherever they are. The water is controlled automatically and we will be adding a water butt in due course. 

Irrigation Pipe being buriedLegacy Pot-watering system around nestbox 2

We also learnt what "bee flys" were today (bombylius major) as we have been seeing lots and wanted to identify them. It's a never ending journey of education!