Sleeping Beauty

I wasn't at home today, but BCW was holding the fort and later in the afternoon went bee hunting. She first caught a bufftail and took it to the back nestbox. Prior to this we'd discussed putting something in the box to try and tempt the Queens to stay in there, such as some bee pollen. So BCW had done that inside an upturned bottle-top, with some netting across it. 

It seems BB18 was keen to explore this pollen and showed quite an interest in it, exploring it and getting a bit covered in it. Intially, perhaps, this gave signs of being a positive move. Then she seemed to go a bit beserk about it and basically shot out of the box and away, without any circling or landmarking at all :-(

We discussed this afterwards and concluded that perhaps the pollen in the nest gave the impression another bee was already resident. Or maybe she just got too covered in it and it freaked her out somehow. Either way, she was not hanging around!

I arrived home almost simultaneosly with BCW bringing home a second bufftail (BB19) - again, a very bright and vibrant specimen and extremely placid. We took a decision to try the rear nestbox again. Now that we have an infrared camera in there that we can see on the main TV it's pretty convenient to monitor. And it's a quieter box in a more peaceful setting. And we haven't really tried it much to date because we couldn't monitor it. So all in all it seemed like a good idea to try. We removed the pollen that caused BB18 to desert and BB19 went into the box quite happily.

BB19 - bufftail

It was about 6.30pm - a time when she would probably be thinking about bedding down and also a time when we wouldn't really be able to find another bee, so we decided to temporarily block the entrance to keep her in there till it was a bit cooler and darker and so she would stay the night. 

It's fair to say we are quite equivocal about the strategy of trapping the bee in the box, even for a short time. We did this to begin with (as advised) and it appeared to have no beneficial effect. And, we felt that maybe it caused the bee more stress and more likelihood of not feeling the box was the right environment; so we really did dither over this decision. However, we knew we were doing her a favour in terms of a safe, dry, warm place to stay overnight and that to allow her to try and go find somewhere else in the wild at that time of night was probably not fair.

For the first hour it did seem like she was hunting every nook and cranny of the box to try and find the exit. It was quite a bitter-sweet sensation: a certain amusement in her behaviour, zigzagging around the nestbox, but a certain pang of guilt that we might be causing her some stress :-(  I didn't know a Bumblebee could cause such emotions! 

Once the light had faded and temperature dropped a little we decided to unblock the entrance and cover it with some grass. Our logic was as follows:

• we'd seen her burrowing around in the bedding in the nestbox with great ease, so the idea was to give her a chance to burrow out of the box tomorrow morning of her own accord
• the grass will keep a lot of light out but will probably allow some of the morning sun through, giving her an indication of where the exit is
• we're hoping that by giving her the chance to exit herself she will be less concerned that the box is unsuitable (ideally she'd think "Oh, Silly me, why didn't I realise this grass had just fallen and blocked the entrance", but I think that's unlikely)

As with all the exploits to date we are just experimenting and observing, experimenting and observing - hopefully adding to the body of knowledge of Bumblebees (well, our own anyway!) At the time of writing she is very peaceful and still, our of camera shot, buried under a load of bedding, but presumably sound asleep. 

Going Cuckoo

A beautiful day today, we thought we were definitely on for some bees today to test out the latest version of our boxes. There was some tidying up of the irrigation system to do - I consider this part of the project, as the irrigation is needed to cope with all the additional bee-friendly plants we've brough into the garden. 

The other job was to get the camera feed from the rear nestbox into the house. Yesterday was the first day it went live and for expediency I just wired it to a temporary TV in the garage. The infrared cameras I'm using in the nest boxes come with about 20 metres of cable, so there was plenty to run it round the edge of the garden. This camera is now routed into the house and main TV. This allows us to view the box with extreme convenience and we can even use "picture in picture" mode to keep an eye on things while watching other things.

rear nestbox cam shown PIP on main TVWhile I was doing the technical work, BCW was out looking for bees. Finally I was able to head out too and catch up with her. As we met she was excitedly to tell me she had just let one go. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! Then she explained she was certain it was a "cuckoo" bee - a cheap imitation of Redtail, with no pollen baskets on its legs. Rather cheekily, a "cuckoo" bee seeks out an existing nest and lays its eggs in there and does none of the work of rearing its young. So, there is no point trying to get one of these bees to nest, as they don't! However, their behaviour does give some pointers as to where they'd expect other bees to have their nest. We actually caught 2 today. 

BCW was standing at the corner of a field where she had seen lots of bees. Some of these appear to using the corner as a landmark for their journeys - they fly across the field to the corner, then zip off on the next leg of their journey. If you are standing in the corner at the time they will sway left to right as  they take you in (probably wondering what this strange tree-like thing that has appeared in their field), then swoop a few circles round you, then shoot off on their way. This behaviour is quite predictable and reliable.

The behaviour today seemed different - not so much outright nesting, but more foraging and "flying through" so although BCW had seen about half-a-dozen bees, it was only the cuckoos that had been in catchable situations. I guess some of the bees we are now seeing have already set up nest and are stocking up for a bit of child-rearing!

I went to the corner of the adjacent field, rather unhopeful of catching anything as it was dry and muddy and cracked, whereas we have seen the Bumbles searching in embankments. However, within 5 minutes I was rewarded with a redtail searching amongst the mudy cracks. I couldn't believe my luck and when she finally landed I was able to catch her with ease. She was quite placid and we decided to take her to the main nestbox at the front.

BB16 - redtailShe went into the box without any problem and the view on the two cameras in this box was amazing - the first time we have been able to test it. The infrared works a treat and the clarity is excellent. I'm really pleased with it. 

Unfortunately she only stayed about 5 minutes. She didn't really explore the box at all, even though we had hoped a redtail would be less fussy than a bufftail. When she left she did a wonderful set of landmarking circles; the best we had seen to date - about 4 circles at a lower level and 3 at a higher level. It really looked like she was taking her surroundings in.

After a pause to catch our breath and get a much needed cuppa, BCW went out again on the hunt. This time she found a bufftail, more-or-less in the same location. We decided we'd try this one in the box at the back. Although the front nestbox is the best-equipped from a technical point of view, that doesn't mean it suits the bees best. It is noiser and less surrounded by greenery for example. 

BB17 - bufftailIt was now about 3.30pm - still about 15 - 15 degrees C outside, though it had been threatening rain on and off. She went into the box very happily and in the end stayed for 50 mins. She followed the typical pattern of scratching and shuffling for a few minutes at a time then resting. All of this time she was unfortunately off-camera, somewhere just below it and she never really explored the box. It's frustrating when the bees decide to inhabit a zone that the camera can't see; but at least the audio gives us a clue what they're up to! We sensed she was going to leave after about 50 minutes and she too delighted us with a wonderful set of circles rising from the box. She even outclassed BB16 doing perhaps a dozen circles rising from ground level up to about 2 storeys high, circling wider and wider and drifting over the neighbours garden a little. This was the best evidence we have had to date of a bumblebee setting her "navigation" - i.e. memorising the landmarks around the nest site.

Of course, this always raises hopes that they are planning to return, but we have learnt from experience that even these signs are not a guarantee. Sadly this has proven to be the case again tonight - neither BB16 nor BB17 have come back to the nestboxes despite our best hopes. However, they thoroughly entertained and delighted us in the process and we can hope they will perhaps return another day. 

Piece 2 Camera

Today was planned as a tech day.

The second infra-red equipped camera arrived in the post (far too early!) so the plan was to fit that to the main beebox (currently in the back garden) and put that box at the front again. Of course, the first job was to check whether anything had crept into it. 

checking the box for activity

Based on our learning from the first infra-red cam in the back-up box, I'd decided that I would add this new camera to the main box and leave the original one in there. I.e. two cameras in one box. This would provide better coverage across the floorplan of the box and also cater for situations where a camera gets disturbed or occluded (as happened with BB15). Also, it meant I could arrange them to provide better coverage of the entrance and avoid blindspots. We had BB15 sneak out on us without being able to see her on the camera and were lucky to spot her leaving the entrance through the window. 

Here's our new floor plan, which is the latest template for both boxes. 

Master beebox layoutThe main features are as follows:

• Much reduced amount of bedding. And the hamster bedding (for smell) is now mainly under the brown fibre bedding. We're not convinced the Bees find it useful and there is a risk of it blocking the camera.
• A new and extended "inner entrance tube" with a chamfered edge. The idea of the tube is to help trick the Bees into thinking they are going further underground, and I suspect there is a benefit from reducing the incoming light too. The chamered edge serves a couple of purposes. It limits the reduction in visibility from the main camera and is also intended to force the bees into view of the camera when they enter and leave.
• Some high-visibility reflective markings on the walls that the cameras can see. This really helps line the cameras up and get a sense of what they can and can't see. But also once the box is in situ with the lid on and operating under infra-red, they provide a marker for the far wall which helps makes sense of what you're looking at and the depth of field, since the main cameras are looking along the length of the box. They reflect the infra-red so appear as a very bright white marker, so you know instantly if you can see the far wall or not. From what we've learnt already this is an extremely useful feature. 

Having set out this template for the main box, the next job was apply it to the second box; this would bring them both up to the same standard. 

nestbox 2 laid out according to the new templateIt's basically the same as box 1, although the inner entrance tube (which was done previously) is probably not as good. And of course, there's only the one camera. 

This was the box that BB15 spent two hours mooching around in the day before, so we were keen to see what she had been up to. Plenty it seems, as below:

Some swirled together bedding on the right hand sideOn the right hand side is the sense of a little nest/tunnel that BB15 made. And she'd done the same thing in several places in the box. We still don't understand the logic of her doing this but then deserting the box. 

Once the boxes were completed, the next job was to get them sited and get all the video monitoring set up. This meant now having two monitors at the front and one at the back. 

Monitoring Front (Main) Nestbox

For the last few days I'd been using an old TV as the main monitor for the front desk. Apart from being unweildy and energy thirsty, I took a massive chunk out of the wall when I nearly dropped it, so it was essentially unpractical. So, we replaced it with a new slim 16 inch LED screen. Compact, light, low on energy, able to play our music on a USB stick and all sorts of other goodies. The picture quality is good and the iPhone is able to photograph it ok!

new monitoring setupThe second camera will be monitored with our small LCD TV that we had been using to date. The camera it is attached to (the very original one I used) is benefitting from the addition of infra-red. 

Monitoring Rear (Secondary) Nestbox

As a temporary solution I have put the old TV in the garage to monitor the rear nestbox, but the intention is to remove the need for this and bring the video signal into the house; possibly to the main TV. 

temporary TV in garageWiring

I made a small improvement to wiring today. Most of the wiring is sealed already and in long single segments so not a problem being outdoors; and also routed underground using some trunking. However, the cameras are connected to power and video/audio at the nestboxes using standard phono and powerjack connectors. (This makes it possible to disconnect the box from installed wiring in order to move it.) To date I haven't sealed these connections, so today I took the opportunity to do so. I'd orginally planned to use something like a "chocbox" (as seen on Dragon's Den). They are fairly cheap in the grand scheme of things but expensive for what they are, really. So, I bought some very small and cheap plastic containers (probaby the kind of thing you'd stick in a child's pack lunch box) and made my own by routing the wires through the clip on lid. Some insulating tape helps seal it and hold the lid on extra tight. This solution is about 1/3rd the cost of a chocbox. 

home made "chocbox" for 1/3rd the costBees, Bees, where are you Bees? 

We went out at about 4pm to try and find a Bee for our newly installed setup; it was still about 15 degrees C, but the weather was looking more threatening and ominous. It had been a bit of weird day - warm (about 16 degrees) but we'd seen no bees at all at the front or back of the house; even around the newly mowed lawn. As ever I was feeling like we have run out of time to get a Queen and that it's only a few stragglers that we are seeing. But BCW is more confident and she is, after all, BCW, so I trust her :-) 

We wandered to the usual place and saw nothing. I even went into the nearby field and tracked along the ditch line, which is popular (especially with Redtails), but no joy. BCW was just explaining how at the corner of this field she regularly sees bees coming across the field and then hunting for somewhere to bed down in the corner when she spotted one! But it dived under the bramble bush and never came out. And that was that. 

Somewhere along the way she pointed out where she last saw three bees altogether, and I said "the Beegees?" - and we fell about laughing. We are easily amused! 

Buffs and Tufts and Other Stuff

I installed the new (infrared equipped) camera in box 2 late last evening, so this morning we decided to swap boxes and put that box 2 at the front - since they are now both configured the same. (Well, except we need to add an internal tube to box 1, which is now at the back.)

It turned out to be one of our most exciting days so far, but more on that in a moment. 

So, we now have a new improved configuration for our boxes, which has even less bedding material and a small internal tube (just made from about a 3rd length of toilet roll centre tube). Here it is:

new box layout version 3This is just after I installed the new camera - in a much lower position which gives a fuller view along the length of box floor. 

With both boxes set up the same we were able to install the above box as the new "main box" which is out the front. Then we set about setting up the box in the back again. We decided that it might be good to try it on the lawn instead of against the garage, because over the last few days we've seen a few bufftails mooching around the longer bits of grass. So, it was a case of "if the bee won't come to the beebox, the beebox will go to the bee!" We wanted to surround it with tall grasses that would encourage investigation and improve visibility from a distance. Since some of the species of Bumblebees are fussy about being underground we also thought the more we can make it look like a grassy hummock, the better. That also seems to be the trick the BBC employed in their brilliant video. Here's what we came up with.

nestbox on the back lawnAnd this is the view from above - designed to present some grassy tufts that look like they have some nooks and crannies to explore. (The foot is optional!)

overhead view of rear garden beeboxIt was fairly cool outside and we hadn't seen any bees on the lawn or out front, but shortly after midday BCW (bee catching wizard) surprised me by saying she would go look for a bee. She didn't disappoint and by 1pm had returned with a gleaming, vibrant bufftail. Here she is, a wonderful specimen:

BB15 - Bufftail - very bright colours!At 13:15 she went into the box at the front and the excitement began. For starters we were thrilled that we could see really well on the new camera, and she was doing lots of moving around and exploring. We kept thinking she was going to leave, but no, she dived under another bit of bedding and rustled around and generally moved all the furniture about! It was amazing to see her exploring from side to side and end to end in the box. I managed to video some of it off the TV screen.

This behaviour continued on and off for a whole two hours. Towards the end of this time it looked like she was doing laps of the box, quite quickly, and coming up to the camera. All along I had been concerned that she'd feel warmth from the infrared on the camera and that it would be off-putting, but since she stayed two hours, I was thinking on balance this must not have been a problem. Reviewing the video again, though, I began to wonder: was the behaviour at the end of the video - coming up to the camera and going away to the end of the box - something to do with the possible heat coming from it? Especially since I have now mounted the camera lower in the box. It's a quandary. 

There is no real way to know at this stage. Her choice to stay two hours seems significantly impressive; but it was cool when she left at 15:30 (about 14 degrees) - would we have expected this? And her activity was much more impressive than anything we have seen to date with other bees: much more exploring and digging around. 

But the question it still leaves is, what behaviour should we expect from a Queen that really thinks she's found a great place for a nest? Would she leave it so soon? (And not come back, as is the case tonight; and risk another bee finding it). Would we expect her to explore and start moving bedding around, or would we expect her to stay still and just wait and confirm that the nest is not in use by any other animals (bees, mice etc.). Is our human smell offputting? (If she can smell it; is that what she's sniffing out?)

Her behaviour when leaving was the most interesting to date also. We have seen a few bumbles take off slowly and spiral away, which we thought might be some kind of landmarking; however, BB15 crept slowly from the box onto the grass in front, then took of very slowly and hovered and circled in small circles round the box area. This was much more like any kind of "landmarking" than we have seen before. But she still didn't do any big circles, which we have read about. So what's behind her behaviour?

In a way, every day generates more and more questions as we try to deal with the disappointment of another bumbling bumblebum that doesn't seem to want to stay! We're running out of time to be finding bees still out nesting, so the pressure's on to really try and perfect the nest, if indeed there is something we can still do it. Hopefully there's now a really chance that a bee will find the newly camouflaged back nestbox of its own accord. 

Anyway - in the meantime, here's a picture of her wonderful lift off - which was incredibly graceful and controlled. 

we have lift off! (BB15)

Cool it

It was a cool day today and we woke with great expectation, wondering what had happened to BB14 overnight in our box. At 8.30am we checked on the box camera - no sign of movement or sound. And outside was about 9 or 10 degrees. We felt it safe to assume she was still in there from the previous night, especially since we've seen other bumbles emerge from the box at 10.30 once the sun is warming up.

To cut a long story short, we didn't see her all day! This left us in a bit of quandary - had she slipped out before we even got up? Did we miss her leaving (to be fair, we couldn't monitor the camera non-stop)? Or was she still in there? The bottom line is, we don't know. 

I'll admit to being rather frustrated - especially with the poor visibilty from the camera caused by the grasses in front of the box (and the cloudier day). I've been itching to get my hands on the new camera tech which has really good built-in infra-red lighting. 

Joy of Joy - the postman knocked and it arrived!

"Spycam" with infrared for use in the nestboxSome quick tests showed this was going to be a very good solution and I'm itching to get it in the nest box. In fact, I've decided to order another so I have one for each box. And instead of replacing the camera in the main box, I will simply add this one as well, so that we have two views inside the box. That'll be fantastic if we get a nest! (Though I'm now seriously considering the need for a vision mixer of some kind).

The coolness and cloudiness of the day led us to decide not to go bee-catching today; it never rose much above 12 degrees. So great excitment ensued when we spotted a bufftail mooching around the lavender by the front nestbox at lunchtime! Could it have been BB14? We don't know! And much as we would have loved her to, she didn't go into the box. Then again at 5.30pm we saw a bufftail again doing the same thing! (I'm becoming BSE - bee-spotter extraordinaire). But this bufftail also didn't discover or enter the nestbox; so again, we are left a little bit uncertain as to what is going on inside the nestbox tonight; we actually assume nothing. To be cautious we have left the main nestbox undisturbed, just in case BB14 is in there tonight. But if there is no sign again tomorrow, I will probably install the new camera in Box 2 and then swap them over.