What should you do if you see a bee and you think it might be struggling?
Don't forget bees can sting -
bee careful
bee patient
bee kind
If you see a bee and you think it might be struggling it is ok to 'feed' him a spoon of sugary water to help him back on his feet. If the bee recovers you should remove the sugar water immediately.
DO NOT leave sugar water out for your bee friends. Only use sugar water in emergencies.
DO NOT feed honey to bees - it could make the bee sick and he could bring the sickness back to the colony
DO NOT pick up bees. Although they look fluffy and friendly, they are very delicate in some places and their sting will really hurt!
But it is much better to plant bee friendly plants in your garden and leave a few small bowls of water with gravel in the bottom throughout your garden. Bees can use these bowls as rest stops in very hot weather.
Bee Friendly Plants:
Pussy Willow
Lavender
Abelia
Mahonia
Apple trees
Hawthorn
Honesuckle
Bee facts:
Most bees are female
One bee can fly 800km in her lifetime!
Bees can tell each other directions to good sources of pollen by dancing!
The bees at Luton Hoo Estate make wonderful honey which our bee keepers collect and put into jars. We sell the honey in our garden shop. All the money we make from the honey goes back into the Walled Garden Volunteer Project. The Project gardeners plant new flowers in the Walled Garden and make sure the trees bushes there are healthy and happy. The bees keep busy visiting all the flowers in the Walled Garden to collect their delicious pollen; they love them and this way we say thank you to the bees.