Showing posts with label bumblebee death. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bumblebee death. Show all posts

Saturday, September 3, 2022

Autumn is almost upon us (saying goodbye to the bumblebees)

The garden has an autumn feel to it these days. Outdoor temperatures are still around sixty-five degrees or so during the early to mid-afternoon, but once evening comes, it's chilly in the garden. And it gets dark much quicker now. I had my annual garden party for my friends/former colleagues this past Wednesday; it was a lovely sunny day but after 7 pm it got very chilly. We had a very nice time, and when they left, I cleaned up and headed for home (around 9:15 pm), at which point it was very dark in the garden. I kept expecting to meet the badger family that lives somewhere in the vicinity of the Gamle Aker church; I can always tell when they've visited my garden because they dig little holes in their hunt for insects and worms to eat. I don't find them bothersome, but they have been known to kill and eat chickens, which is exactly what happened recently to another allotment gardener who kept hens. We are not allowed to have hedgehogs in the garden for the same reason--badgers. 

Autumn is also the time of year when dead worker bumblebees are more visible, I assume because their lifespans are so short (about two to six weeks). That means many of them have been working beside me in the garden since late July/beginning of August. I have grown to love bumblebees; I call them the jumbo jets of the garden, as I've probably alluded to before. They are so bulky compared to honeybees and their buzz is louder. You hear them coming. There were many more bumblebees than honeybees this year, probably because the garden no longer has honeybee hives. Bumblebees are great little pollinators, and I love seeing my garden flowers covered with them. 

Last night, near my greenhouse, I came upon a rather disoriented bumblebee on the ground. She was clearly struggling to walk and fly. I picked her up carefully, put her in my palm and patted her gently. She clung to my fingers for dear life. I knew she was dying, so I found a pumpkin flower and placed her gently inside it and placed the flower under some larger leaves so she wouldn't be disturbed. I gave her a few drops of water and left for the evening. Today I came to the garden hoping against hope that she had only been tired and had flown away, but that was not to be. She had died. All part of the natural cycle of life and death, I know, but the death of this little creature tugged at my heart. I buried her in the pumpkin flower in the coral bell patch. I wish it wasn't so sad to lose them. Bumblebees work so hard collecting pollen that they bring back to the hive, they do their jobs, they don't live long, and they often die alone outside the hive. Not much of a life really. Perhaps that's why my heart goes out to them. I am always gentle with them, and I love watching them flit from flower to flower. Their little lives are precious to me, as are the lives of honeybees and most of the other insects in the garden. 

Who knew that having a garden would change me the way it has? I am sure other gardeners feel as I do. I don't want to kill insects for no reason. I don't want their needless deaths on my conscience. I know there are some readers who will ask me if I feel the same way about hornets and wasps. I don't know, honestly. I do know that I don't kill yellow jackets if I can help it. I swat them away but I don't kill them. They are irritating, but they are also little lives. They buzz around in search of food, and it's not their fault that nature outfitted them with a taste for barbecued meat. Trying to peacefully coexist with nature's creatures is the best policy in my opinion, although I know that it isn't always possible to do so. But we can do the best we can to not destroy their habitats, and in the case of bees and other insects, to create gardens that are inviting to them. Gardens that welcome their presence. 


Sunday, April 14, 2013

Daily news

Reading daily news
Since year’s start dire statistics
The future is here

Bumblebees dying
Climate changes severe storms
A new century

Filled with new changes
Unsure how they will impact
Just sure that they will

Bees disappearing
Pollination a problem
Global food problems

Arctic ice melting
Rapidly gone in few years
All oceans rising

Water to the air
More storms tornadoes
More rain more drought land dying

Bird flu pandemic
Virus mutates coming years
Fast spread to humans

Advent of new time
On earth our home our planet
How will we survive

Take seriously
The warnings dire real enough
Where to go from here



copyright Paula M. De Angelis
April 2013

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Just to give you an idea of the types of articles I've read recently that inspired this poem: 

  1. Millions face starvation as world warms, say scientists http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2013/apr/13/climate-change-millions-starvation-scientists?CMP=twt_gu
  2. Arctic Nearly Free of Summer Sea Ice During First Half of 21st Century, Experts Predict http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130412142848.htm
  3. Why Jim Hansen stopped being a government scientist http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2013/04/12/why-jim-hansen-stopped-being-a-government-scientist-video/
  4. Skeptical science http://www.skepticalscience.com/
  5. Pesticides definitively linked to bee colony collapse http://www.anh-usa.org/pesticides-definitively-linked-to-bee-colony-collapse/
  6. A Common Pesticide Decreases Foraging Success and Survival in Honey Bees http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6079/348.abstract
  7. Neonicotinoid Pesticide Reduces Bumble Bee Colony Growth and Queen Production http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6079/351.abstract
  8. Silent hives http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/04/new-studies-colony-collapse-disorder.html
  9. Total Buzz Kill: Metals in Flowers May Play Role in Bumblebee Decline http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130402152432.htm#.UVs6x29BPR4.twitter
  10. Could New Flu Spark Global Flu Pandemic? New Bird Flu Strain Seen Adapting to Mammals, Humans http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130412192402.htm
  11. New flu in China reveals its avian origins http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/349613/description/New_flu_in_China_reveals_its_avian_origins

The four important F's

My friend Cindy, who is a retired minister, sends me different spiritual and inspirational reflections as she comes across them and thinks I...