Lets Bee Friends

A little ealier than I anticipated, but my bees are back!

Let me explain. When I moved into the house I live in a couple of years ago, I was sitting watching a movie one night and I become aware of a very faint buzzing sound. I paused the DVD and listened carefully, trying to identify where the sound was coming from.

After a few moments I figured out that the buzzing was coming from behind the gas fire (which I have never used in all the time I've been here), but I couldn't for the life of me begin to imagine what could be causing it. Sure, it sounded like a bee, but surely not....

A few minutes later, I had resumed the movie when out of the corner of my eye I noticed something small had appeared on the hearth, and so I once more hit the pause button and got down on my knees to investigate.

Lo and behold, there was the tiniest bee I'd ever seen. It was a baby, effectively, that looked as though it had just hatched from its egg, and was docile enough for me to scoop it up with a piece of paper and take a good close look at it.

Its tiny antennae were moving around sluggishly, and its wings gave an occasional flutter, as if it were trying them out for the first time. After a few minutes gazing in fascination at this beautifully formed creature I took it to the front door and released it into the world.

Over the next few weeks, this happened several times. Sometimes I'd get home from work to find two or three baby bees clinging to the net curtains at my front window, having been drawn by the light but unable to find their way outside. So, in true animal (and insect) loving style I would peform my daily ritual of helping these youngsters to reach fresh air.

I suppose that I should really have called in the pest control people, but I figured that whereas wasps may have been dangerous, baby bees posed no threat to me, and to have them killed just because they happened to be living in my chimney seemed a little harsh.

My bee rescuing activities continued last year, as well. I couldn't help but wonder if some of the young bees I had helped had somehow remembered their safe haven and had come back to nest once more in my chimney.

And so, for the third year running, they're back, and with the liberation of the first one sure to be happening this morning, I'm looking forward to helping a whole new generation of bees get a fair start in life. (Of course, many of them may well be picked up for lunch by a passing Starling the minute I set them free, but such is life.)