HIVEMIND Disorientating flights Flowering now WHAT OUR BEES MIGHT VISIT IN APRIL
Grape hyacinths (Muscari spp) yield pollen and nectar and appear in profusion from March to May. Swathes of purple-blue flowers will carpet garden beds, lawns and borders, even pushing through cracked pathways and tarmac drives. Dedicated gardeners might hesitate to plant this delightful if invasive species, but to beekeepers and bees they are very welcome.
There are many varieties and can be purchased quite cheaply as bulbs. Plant in autumn in any well-drained spot in full sun or partial shade. They grow well in containers, particularly at the foot of taller plants and shrubs, so this might be best if you want to avoid the inevitable spread of this bee-friendly flower. Once established, they need no care other than dividing (or weeding out!) every few years.
Also flowering:
As we start to watch for swarming, there will be the inevitable panic when we arrive at the apiary one day and see the bees pouring out of the hive and milling about. There was no sign of queen cells last time! But then the frantic flying subsides, and everything – including the beekeeper’s heartbeat – returns to normal.
The phenomenon is usually described as an orientation flight, thought to be young bees taking their first or one of their first flights to establish their location. Seems logical. Sure enough, if you watch the bees, it looks to be similar to what happens when bees are moved to a new location and spill out for the first time but realise that their environment is new and that they must establish their new bearings.
However, Jürgen Tautz casts doubt on the orientation- flight explanation. He doesn’t deny that such flights exist, but he says that ‘mass orientation flights’ might have quite a different purpose.
Examining the demographics of mass orientation flights, Tautz says, reveals no concentration of young bees; the majority are old and experienced foragers – some have even come directly from work in the fields, so they are hardly in need of a reminder of where they live. He also notes that colonies which have been queenless for a few weeks don’t perform these mass orientation flights, even if young bees are added regularly to the colony in amounts that would be equivalent to birth rates in a queen-right colony. He also says that mass orientation flights occur only at times of year when drones are flying and when virgins may leave on their mating flights
How can the so-called mass orientation flights be explained if they occur only in the presence of a queen? Are they bridesmaids or practising bridesmaids?
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Tautz, Jurgen (2008). The Buzz about Bees. Biology of a Super Organism. Springer.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
Cherry (Prunus spp)
Apple (Malus spp) Bee Craſt April 2020
Photo: Steven Fleming
Photos: Richard Rickit
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