'Mummy!'

'These people who sit talking to themselves do look silly.'
As I say this I realise that the man is in fact talking on his phone while I am the one talking to myself.

I'd thought doing some yesterday morning but then Nuora said they were going to Blackpill and did I want to join them. Let's see, cleaning the bathroom or playing with GrandSon4? No competition. 

Nuora planned on cycling from Mumbles so I walked down to meet them at Blackpill. Time passed and I began to wonder if I'd missed them somehow. I took lots of photos to pass my time and sat in the sunshine for a while.

I didn't have a watch so I didn't know how late they were but it seemed quite a long time I'd been waiting. I also had no means of contacting them or of them contacting me. It's times like these that make me think, 'I really should carry my phone on me.'

They turned up. Nuora had had to repair a flat tyre and then fight against a surprisingly strong wind. And then we had fun.

These michelmas daisies in Clyne Gardens were positively humming with busy bees. I stuck my head in hoping one of them would recognise me and say, 'Mummy,' but they didn't.

The Great Bee Adventure Part 4

The hive is in situ, not on the newly-repaired kitchen roof but on the shed roof.

They seem quite happy and active when the sun shines.

One wanted to get to know me.

Younger Son has made his first inspection. He was unable to locate the queen so he was a little disappointed but everything seems to be hunky dory.

Bees must be one of the natural wonders of the universe.

The Great Bee Adventure Part 3

The sun is out and the bees are finding their bee-arings.

They fly in ever-increasing figure-of-eight moves all the while checking their position so they can eventually travel up to three miles from the hive and find their way back.

Things I have learned about bees this afternoon
1. The Queen can live for seven years.
2. Workers only live for about a month and they don't sleep!
3. During the night you can hear a humming from the hive: it's the flapping of wings to dry out the honey and make it evaporate down to 10% of its original quantity. Mead is made from the liquid form.
4. Worker bees only sting if threatened and then they die.
5. Drones don't sting.
6. The Queen only stings other queens. The first action of the first Virgin queen to be hatch is to kill all her potential rivals i.e. the other queens not yet born.
7. The workers are in charge. They decide when the it's getting too crowded or when the Queen is getting past it. They decide whether the queen needs to lay drone, worker or queen eggs.
8. Worker bees spend the first half of their lives cleaning the hive and doing repairs. Then they forage for pollen and nectar.
9. The drones are sex machines. They don't do anything else but they only do it once and then die.

So much more but I'll stop there for now as I was getting a little confused.

The Great Bee Adventure: Part 2

Husband was out and I was curled up in front of the television when I heard a noise outside the back door. Bravely I went and opened the door to see what it was. (George wisely stayed in his comfy spot behind the sofa.) Turned out to be a ghost-buster.

Husband and Younger Son had been to collect the bees to put in the hive on top of the kitchen roof. They'd had to wait until evening when the bees would be sleepy. The photo shows Younger Son getting ready to release the bees into the hive. Apparently they were fed up of the car journey and getting grumpy. The bees that is not Husband and Younger Son.

CORRECTION
I was a bit puzzled as to how they had managed to transport a load of bees in the car but Husband has filled me in. They didn't just bring the bees: they brought a hive containing bees. A hive that that had been sealed up for the journey. 

So we now have two hives in the garden. Apparently it's nearly time for a new queen to be born and when she is and when she's ready she will take half the bees and go off and find a new home. YS has to be able to spot when she's getting ready and take her and her entourage to the second hive rather than let them go off in a swarm, never to be seen again, I presume. I'm sure I'll be corrected if I have that wrong.

Bees are so awfully clever. I am learning a lot about them.

The only problem is that I have exchanged worrying about a poorly goldfish to worrying about a whole hive of bees. 

Younger Son messaged me and asked me to go and check that they were flying in and out. I watched for a while and only two flew out. However there are several just clinging to the wall looking shell-shocked. Husband says they'll perk up when it warms up and that they probably need this cooler period to re-adjust slowly to their new environment.

I am wondering if I should offer them some sugar solution. Will ask YS.