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David in Normandy[_7_] · 26-02-2008, 10:17 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening

Sacha says...
On 26/2/08 09:20, in article ,
"David in Normandy" wrote:

Sacha says...
On 25/2/08 13:49, in article
, "Des
Higgins" wrote:

On Feb 24, 10:31 pm, Dave Hill wrote:
This evening as I was cooking supper I heard a buzzing and looked
towards the light to see a Queen Wasp, after a few mins of trying to
get her somewhere I could swat her things came to the boil snd I had
to leave her , when I looked again she had gone somewhere where I
couldn't find her, but I expect she'll be back.
I've never had a queen wasp around this early in the year.

David Hill
Abacus Nurseries

I saw several queen bumble bees (2 or 3) a couple of weeks ago; just
at the end of the dreadful wet weather. They get badly hit by cold if
they come out too early.

Des

We've had bumble bees round here for several weeks now but not today. There
was a lot of white on the lawn this morning and it's a grey, cold day.

I rescued a huge bumble bee from upstairs yesterday. It was
trying desperately to get out of a window and making a heck
of a racket. Not the easiest things to rescue. Putting a
pot over it was the easy bit, but trying to slide a lid
between the window and the bee without squishing or
severing any legs was tricky. Finally got it outside and
removed the lid and it spent a couple of minutes trying to
get out via the bottom of the box rather than the open top.
Not the smartest of creatures. Good deed for the day. I
love bumble bees, something strangely cute about them
(unlike wasps - shudder).

Wasps are bovver boys while bees give every appearance of being rather
benevolent and not looking for trouble. I am convinced that wasps *like*
annoying people, spoiling their al fresco suppers etc. ;-)
One of the best ways to catch bees is a match box. Empty it, slide it open
and turning it upside down, put it over the bee. Slowly slide it shut, take
it outside, open it. Bingo. I hope!

Bees / bumble bees all seem to be far more interested in
flowers than me, but wasps on the other hand are "hoodie"
bees - just hanging around looking for trouble.

I don't know if there are different varieties of bumble
bees but the one I rescued would have pretty well filled a
standard sized match box, it was huge. The loud hum it was
making was also impressive - like some noisy electrical
equipment.

I have a pathological fear of wasps. As a child playing in
some bushes the ground beneath my feet gave way demolishing
the home of a substantial number of wasps - I didn't know
the nest wast there but the wasps sure made a thing of it -
I was stung head to toe - probably around 50 or more
stings. They were all over me and chased me a good 100
yards while I was trying to beat them off my clothes with a
stick. Since then wasps hold a certain dread for me.
--
David in Normandy.
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