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Bees are endangered around the world and in Ireland too. Ever been tormented by the buzzing of a bee at the window? Paul Handrick, ‘The Bee Guy’, wants us to think about bees more, to help them where we can. Here, he charts the story of one bee, and through doing it helps tell the tale of the amazing work bees do…
SO IT’S A spring morning and you’re chillin’. Doing your thing. Reading the paper. Browsing on your phone, catching some half sleep…
And there’s a buzzing drifting through the house. It’s been tickling the edge of your consciousness for about an hour. Playing hide and seek with your awareness.
Changing slightly in pitch and depth. Falling silent for a few moments only to kick back in slightly more frantic before levelling back to constancy again.
It’s slightly annoying. But not quite annoying enough to really disrupt the chill. Even the more frantic moments not quite frantic enough to set off the need to act.
Wake up to bees
Now where was I?
Before the buzzing tickled.
Oh yeah…
The buzzing?
It’s a bee, innit?
In the house, innit?
Stuck against the window, the wee fool, innit?
But I’m busy chillin’
It’ll wait.
I’ll get to it later.
Must remember.
Probably won’t though. But it’ll be alright. It’ll figure it out. And if it’s not – well there’s loads of them aren’t there?
Should have known better.
Now…back to the important stuff – a walk on the pier or a bit of shopping this afternoon?
On the window sill the bee sits still.
Exhausted.
Confused.
Her Majesty
A queen – she had been out foraging. It had been the perfect morning for a bumblebee. She had been sitting on her first brood of eggs as the sun broke the horizon splashing heat onto the soil and vaguely lighting the old mouse hole in the fern camouflaged bank she had chosen as her nest.
The eggs beneath her were warm from contact with the hairless patch on her abdomen that allowed her to transfer her heat to them. But she could feel her energy dipping. She knew she’d have to venture out. She needed nectar. Needed sugar to create the energy and heat to keep the eggs cosy. She needed those flower visits. Thousands of them.
The hope was for suitable flying conditions and this morning was feeling good. Her bee sense signalling no storms, no heavy rain. She’d wait an hour or so until the heat from the sun really kicked in then she’d go.
She’d warm up those flight muscles and shoot from the nest like a bat out of hell – or a bee out of a mouse hole as she preferred. She had a window of opportunity. She had to make it out to the flowers, do the shopping and get back to the eggs before their temperature dropped too low.
This being the first brood of spring she had no backup yet – no daughter workers to nurse the eggs while she was gone. No willing foragers to collect the food for her. Not yet. She was all alone.
She was everything.
And she was hungry.
The heat increased. The muscles warmed and she flew.
Nourishment from plants
Straight to the flowers high up on the nearby Pussy Willow trees where she gorged then moving on to the low flowers on the ground, the dandelions, that pointed her to exactly where their nectar was located with markings invisible to the human eye.
She worked each flower methodically, absentmindedly humming ‘Don’t stop me now, I’m having such a good time…’, as she cut through the air in between.
She loved flying. It never got old. She’d missed it all through hibernation.
She knew instantly when landing on a flower if it had already been emptied by one of her contemporaries, by the scent left behind, thus saving her precious time and energy on a pointless mission. Bees have got it going on!
As she fed she was always aware of the need to be quick. To get back to her nest. To her eggs. Pausing on a dandelion to groom the pollen that was now all over her shiny spring hair her large eyes caught something moving fast in her direction.
Two kids were playing football in their back garden – her forage patch. She rose from the flower in panicked flight and flew straight in the back door of No. 27. The air in here was warmer. No breeze. The light different.
She needed to get back to her eggs.
She flew around this foreign environment trying to get her bearings. To locate a landmark. She saw the sun. And headed for it. This was going to be okay.
And then it wasn’t.
She didn’t know what hit her. Hadn’t seen it. But it hurt. One second she was in full flight and the next she was on her back her stinger up ready to defend herself. But from what? She scrambled around to take off again. But there was something in front of her pressed against her head. Her eyes. Something hard. But she couldn’t see it.
Her eggs! Need to get back!
She’d fly over it.
So she rose.
But it rose with her.
She feinted left.
It followed.
Right.
There too.
But the sun. The sky. The way back to her nest.
She could see it all.
She dropped down. And worked her away along the bottom. It followed.
She tried over again. No.
She flew at it. And flew at it. And flew at it. Flew towards the sun. But got nowhere. It hurt.
And her energy drained.
She rested.
She went again.
The desperate dance with the invisible partner.
Her eggs! Her eggs!
She went at it and at it until she was spent.
And now she sits on the window sill.
Broken.
Confused.
And the sun beats down on her.
And the spiders wait.
And her eggs.
The future of her nest.
Grow cold.
Open the window
You see bumblebees don’t get windows.
Bumblebees don’t get houses.
Bumblebees can take on enough energy to fly for about an hour.
Bumblebee eggs need to be kept between a very specific temperature range. Bumblebee queens need to make up to six thousand flower visits a day to create the heat to maintain their eggs.
Bumblebee queens are all important. If they fail the nest fails. They have no backup.
So get up off your arse and help that bee out.
Right now.
No faffing about.
No excuses.
A little bit of your effort will go a long way.
Time is of the essence, innit?
It’s vital, innit?
It’s bees, innit?
She’s in your house.
And she’s in trouble.
So go be a hero.
It’s your responsibility.
Innit?
Paul Handrick, known as The Bee Guy runs The Bee Sanctuary in County Wicklow.
Save the bees with us by becoming an Official Friend of the Bees via the website - www.thebeesanctuaryofireland.com.
Greed.
@Moses: You just call out my name
And you know, wherever I am
I’ll come runnin’
To see you again…
@Moses: It’s perfectly reasonable. You can’t be going around looking at stuff for free. I live in quite a scenic area and the other day I saw some fella looking at some lovely things, bold as brass. I was having none of it. Stood in front of him until he left, so I did. Cheeky git.
We have done this lovely walk many times.(And contributed to the local economy by staying in a bnb and purchasing locally). I would not pay to walk again.
@Fiona Liston: Plenty that will. We don’t need ya
@Luma plex: I’m assuming you’re joking. If not, you think it’s ok to charge people to walk in the fresh air ? And people give out about expensive Dublin ? Clare will become the new rip off place to visit.
Very surprised the comments are open on this article…..the articles for commenting on are getting fewer by the day for some reason !
@Jb Walshe: After seeing some of the comments that were deleted before closing the comments on the article about the memorial to national soldiers I can understand why comments are not being open on all articles.
@Roy Dowling: Example?
@I’m Far Right: the most notable one was using Veradkers sexuality to attack him instead of just saying he shouldn’t have been there. No need for it and probably the reason comments were closed
@Roy Dowling: That sounds awful. Hopefully Leo didn’t see it. Poor wee lad.
@Jb Walshe: those debunked articles are hilarious, usually overlook plenty of facts to suit the explanation and comments are closed in case they’re rumbled.
@I’m Far Right: Ah so you are one of those. Don’t know who I’m surprised
@Fintan Stack: this is the real reason. Talk about how much you like Coldplay all you like, but don’t come here to discuss serious topics and expect not get censored at some stage by the blatantly biased Journal.
They must be in trouble if they’re asking for handouts in the middle of an article.
@Journal Snowflake: …and without so much as a reach-around.
@Fintan Stack: Well don’t read it if you don’t like it! There are plenty of other Irish news sources if you don’t like The Journal’s values. It’s free. What’s the problem? You pay for what you get.
@Journal Snowflake: yes, we’re the fourth richest country in the world, our worst off are 60% better off than the worst off in the UK, and somebody with four dependent kids who chooses never to work can get state supports including housing that equate to a salary of more than 50k before tax. Our medical care and education are free, older people get a pension even if they never contributed to one, along with free travel.
So yes, we’re being screwed, we should kick out our centrist governments and replace them with the IRA.
(Or the weird lad with all the gold bars).
Greed, greed and more ******k8n greed. What a sham of a country we have become.
@Charles Mc Carthy: It is not the ordinary people who are greedy but it is those few fat Greedy Councilors who firmly believe that it is their job to relieve people of their hard earned money. I haven’t visited the Cliffs since the council began charging for parking. None of my children have never visited the Cliffs. How many people who live within ten miles of the Cliffs will never visit the them?
@Seán Ó Maoildeirg: your kids are missing out. Park in Doolin old village for free, it’s 5 mins walk from walk to Cliffs of Moher, spectacular views along the way – although probably takes 90 mins at least to get to O’Brien’s Tower
I remember when there was just a car park at the Cliffs of Moher. No charge……. no bother at all. Then the greed started to kick in. I haven’t been back since
@Johannes Baader: you had a car back then? And you’re still driving? Respect!
Yeay capitalism !
@Alex Kane: You don’t understand what capitalism is.
@Alex Kane: Capitalism was the farmers who decided to use their own property as carparks and undercut the council one in price by a huge percentage. That was kind of cool huh? That’s the free market approach but the government doesn’t like the free market competing like that, so they shut down the competition. In short, capitalism was providing a good solution here and the quasi socialist government stopped it.
Boycott these activities and let’s see what happens when no money is getting in.
Comments closed for the protest at Cork City Library. What are you afraid of, Journal? Free speech?
The boom is back baby……greed is good
And what about Lahinch and Lehinch
All these objections are falling on deaf ears. It’s a long long way from Clare to hear
Well done to the protesters in cork
They’ll be charging to get in to O’Connors or McGanns next.
Nothing wild about the wild Atlantic way
@eoin fitzpatrick: It’s wilder than your one bed flat in dcc
Maybe they could raise the local property tax instead?
Clare locals should stick to farming and stop moaning. They’re our cliffs now.
@Luma plex: Your cheque is in the post.
Thieving c$$ts
Questions….
Surely stopping to drop someone off is not a parking violation…?
Can the double yellow lines be appealled ..positive action is needed.
I was one of the fools that had to pay e12 a person as there was 4 of us in car . To walk along in the rain with the THOUSANDS of others . 1% of them IRISH . 99% TOURISTS. They won’t let u stop the car anywhere near to let people out . As marshalls out moving traffic and ticketing ppl. They even charge u to go into the tower now . So basically rip off ireland at its best . 2 hrs at the cliffs . E48 entrance . 4 Coffees e16 . The rain free , definitely a Mastercard movement.
No one should be charged to walk on a cliff.
No one should be charged to drop someone off.
And there should be a legal maximum to charge people to park their cars.
How absolutely ridiculous.
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