On 23/07/2014 9:23 AM, Ross@home wrote:
Without going out and actually counting them, we have roughly 50 fruit
trees on our property. Mostly apples, some pears, a few peaches, a few
sweet cherries, a couple of plum varieties and one apricot tree.
We've had off years in the past and that's to be expected but, this
year, there is a total of no more than a dozen fruit to be seen out of
all those trees.
I spend a lot of time outdoors and I can honestly say I have not seen
more than two or three honeybees so far this year.
Rachel Carson was right. All these damn sprays being indiscriminately
used are taking their toll.
Also, this time of year, when our alfalfa fields are in bloom, they
would normally be alive with Monarch Butterflies. This year, none so
far.
A pox on Monsanto and their ilk.

A friend of ours asked us to keep an eye out and report back to her on
the number of bees we had in our garden. I got my SO onto the job as he
is very good at that sort of thing. For the first week I saw a few only
but then I seemed to get my eye in and He and I were both seeing lots of
them but they seemed to concentrate on particular plants. For example,
when the rosemary was flowering just outside the windows of our sun
room, it was covered with bees.

I do hope it's only a temporary blip in your bee numbers and that they
come back in swarms next spring.