How are the bees?
nautil.us
nautil.us
The anecdotes about "bugs on the windscreen and the bonnet" driving around really resonate to me. There are far, far less casual bug splatters per car these days, and I cannot but think this ties back to a reduction in small insectivore populations too: we killed the bugs, the birds and lizards which depend on them are dying too.
Cycling in scotland in the 70s I could come home covered in black dots. I don't know if the midge problem is as big or not these days. I know out beyond the ranges in Australia, in the bush, its still hand flapping to keep the buggers out of your face but closer to the towns, the immediate rural areas around cities, I sense less insects overall.
Once, while kilted one evening in Skye, I ended up with literally hundreds of midge bites all over my legs.
I f*cking hate midges :(
Shit is not good.
It's possible that modern aerodynamic cars are better at avoiding bugs than old cars, although I don't know if this explains the whole difference.
I suspect automobile aerodynamics play a bigger role in the windscreen index reduction than ecological destruction does.
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2019/february/the-world-... https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2023989118
I highly recommend The Silent Earth by Dave Goulson for more. It's not a strident eco piece, I'd call it more of a lamentation, but it's also very clear headed and fairly detailed on the evidence and the issues around good science in this space.
Consumer vehicles have benefitted from improvements in the process to make safety glass, and are substantially more aerodynamic than they were.
This leads to much less bug splatter, which is good! But it exaggerates the decline as well.
Also, bumpers and grills were covered in moths, butterflies and grasshoppers, etc... when I was a kid. Not anymore, not for a long time.
They are almost all gone now, clear as can be.
In the 41 years since our VW Vanagon was made, the aerodynamic profile has not changed. And yet, while not measured with accuracy suitable for a lab report, we clean far fewer bugs of thing than years prior. As in, previously one might have to stop at a gas station just to clean the bugs off the windshield. Whereas these days, I'm actually surprised when a bug splats on the windshield.
That, and your premise is flawed to begin with: ...data showing that modern cars hit more bugs, perhaps because older models push a bigger layer of air – and insects – over the vehicle.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/12/car-spla...
I have to wonder if the lack of car travel just allowed the already existing animals to wander further into town, but birds made a big recovery. There are types of birds I jad never seen before now in flocks around the city. I hope they can survive now that it is busy again.
I’d be curious about your opinion since it sounds like you may have some first or second hand experience with pesticides and varroa mites.
There is another article here [2] which talks about the tactics used with atrazine (not a neonic).
1: https://theintercept.com/2020/01/18/bees-insecticides-pestic...
2: https://100r.org/2013/06/pest-control-syngentas-secret-campa...
But the third hive is THRIVING — I even fortuitously got to watch a full swarm, from start to finish (unable to capture in time), about a month ago.
Already have two full supers; about to add a third (for, in total, five I.mediums tall).
I started my MAQS (formic acid) treatment 60 days ago, and will do again when the dearth sets in (another few weeks where I live -- the "hot season").
They're flying strong and flying hard. In addition to varroa destructor, et. al; while watching the hive recently, I noticed my first "murder hornet" -- HUGE -- and laughed that my mother purchased me a Bug-A-Salt™ for just such a purpose/defense.
Locked-and-loaded, ready for the next day/adventure. Buzz buzz.
Are you in Whatcom county, WA? and/or somewhere in BC? I ask only because those are the most prominent places in North America that I'm aware of having "murder hornets"
re: varroa treatment: What are your thoughts on claims (research out of Czechia and Florida) about using essential oils, especially thyme oil and peppermint, as a deterrent? Do you find you've had to change up your treatments to keep under control? Do you have a preferred way to measure varroa? IE: sugar vs alcohol test? We don't have a local beekeeper association and our extension office doesn't have the expertise, so I'm always looking to connect with other beekeepers, especially that might be in roughly the same area or state.
Last year was my first year and I ended up with two deadouts - about what I expected; it was a learning experience. Started this spring with four package. Have lost one hive for reasons unclear. First queen went missing after about a month. Had a laying worker situation, tried to requeen and wasn't successful. Meanwhile, just added a second super to my best hive and the other two are doing alright getting ready for winter too.
> Nor are the 4,000 native bee species in North America doing any better: Nearly 1 in 4 of them is at increasing risk of extinction.3
I think a driving factor of this is paving over large swaths of land, farming, and individuals planting non-native plants. The native habitats for these native bees is disappearing and thus it shouldn't be a surprise that the bees are disappearing as well.
My wife and I have been planting hundreds of native plants in our garden over the last few years and there is an incredible difference in the number of native bees that visit our yard now, sometimes it's dozens at a time. We definitely never saw such activity with a standard lawn and non-native shrubs.
One issue we have been having in California is the planting of natives. Honey bees are Italian bees..not native CA bees. At least where I am, there has been so many California Buckeye planted and they are the first to bloom in spring. Their pollen is also toxic to honey bees.
When they swarm in spring, they’d go to the first nectar source after they emerge. Sadly, it would be the Buckeye. I always tell people to plant bramble(these days there are thornless varieties)..and bramble blossoms come before or around the time of the buckeye bloom..and much earlier than the rest of the spring bloom.
Of course, each region has a different story. In the south…iirc..yellow jessamine pollen is bad for honeybees. Honeybees are just one of the species..native bee varieties are numerous and often honeybees chosen for beehives and honey extraction from them are not native bees.
Where I lease land for my lavender fields, they won’t let me set up beehives because they don’t want Italian honeybees to compete with native bees and other native pollinators. Lavender honey is a very lovely product and bees forage for upto 5 mile radius ..but infused lavender honey works too.
Native pollinators and bees need protection too. But most people don’t know about their importance. That’s changing (here in California, at least!)
Right now, I have hedgerows every half acre. The diversity of pollinators is pretty impressive. I use fennel, sage/salvias, yarrow to attract them. I also have elderberry and coyote bush for wintering birds. Grass..native grass is important too and when they drop seed. There are many bird species that are seed eating. Finches especially love them. Most seeds are high in oil. The insects are tasty too. For whatever reason, this year we got tree swallows nesting in the bluebird nesting boxes and it was a sight to behold to watch them swoop and swoon for their supper.
At home, there are passifloras for hummingbirds and other proboscis pollinators. Orchards also need a variety of pollinators. Figs for example need wasps because the fruit is an inverted flower. But everyone is afraid of wasps. So there’s that. Butterflies need both nectar plants as well as host plants for larve. Usually they aren’t the same ones.
Pollinator hedgerows should never be harvested and should be more or less left alone. I have mulberries and rugosa hedgerows for birds and deer. The deer love the rosehips(that’s why the roses shouldn’t be picked) and is a good food source for them in winter. Bunnies like to burrow under it. We even found some fox kits one winter. The benefit of wild hedgerows as perimeter planting is that it keeps the critters and birds full and busy at the edges of the farm. They won’t come in and devastate the orchard fruit. Sterilized and clean stripped farms are aesthetically pleasing to the eye but they are inefficient and require so much fossil fuel to maintain the illusion of order that farms are like literal open factories without the smoke stacks.
I wonder if it’s a strategy for them to watch out for predators that are different coloured than them. I have seen bumblebees in purple lavender and honeybees in the white section and on white flowers..but when they swarm in large numbers, they keep separate.
And I know they are not colour blind. I have also heard that humming bird prefer red flowers..that’s not true. Thor is the resident humming bird of the oldest elderberry tree(all farm hummingbirds are called ‘Thor’) and I have seen the same Anna and Rufus hummingbirds at the passionflowers too. So..don’t know..they must have some territorial divide and dine strategy. The hummingbirds at least get super territorial and can be mean with each other…they just look cute. Humming birds are lean mean flying fighting machines with a sword attached to their face.
Honeybees, whether native (in Europe) or non-native (everywhere else) are not in any way an indicator of the health of native insect species.
My bees are doing OK. It was a terrible winter for them, but my new bees are doing well so far this year. I just harvest 50 lbs of honey.
We also have a large variety of other stinging insects in our yard. Although we did work to control the carpenter bees and yellow jackets this year via traps.
I like it how they say that neonicotinoids are active substances used in plant protection products to control harmful insects. Didn't know bees are harmful insects.
they also routinely kind of "clean up" forest patches by cutting young trees that are about 2 m long. usually it's going to the refuse or is otherwise recycled. this year they have started grouping them together in piles and also adding any logs that were available from fallen trees, leaving them to be taken over by foliage.
this year has SUBSTANTIALLY more insects, and bees, and also many more spiders and obviously also webs.