Lime Blossom.

A month ago, we introduced this year’s intake of new beekeepers to each other and to the mentors in the club, today, we introduced them to a beehive. One of the questions I was asked was, "Should we be feeding the bees?” I showed them the blossom on the neighbouring lime trees, known in folk songs as linden trees. Few people seem to have heard of the linden, while the general assumption is that a lime tree must bear citrus fruit, but then we live in an age where milk comes from supermarkets rather than cows and no-one would eat food that has been fertilised with manure - assuming that they knew what manure is.

The lime trees don't produce nectar every year, this year it is available in abundance. When the weather is wet, the nectar is diluted by the rain and so it often starts to ferment  with the obvious results. I have seen film of bees crash landing at the entrance to the hive but not witnessed it in the flesh though, this year, I have noticed my bees being a little unsteady on their approach runs with their line of flight perhaps not as direct as usual.

My extra, not very good quality I'm afraid, is of a newly emerged queen buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) spotted in the apiary garden. She attracted my attention because she was having difficulty flying; she would struggle through the grass, take off, fly erratically for a few feet before falling unceremoniously to ground; each attempt was more successful than the last until, after about ten tries, she disappeared from sight; possible reasons for the erratic flight are: she is learning how to fly, she's drunk from lime nectar, or her wings are deformed.

You will notice that the front right wing is sticking out at an odd angle although; this is the only photograph out of half a dozen where this is happening. Normally the wings either lie on top of one another along the bee's back when at rest, or the fore and aft wings are Velcroed together to provide one large wing surface on each side for flight. It could be that I have caught her in a transient posture either in the process of zipping or of unzipping her wings, but it's odd that she's not symmetrical; and any minor unbalance would cause the flight problems I had seen.

It is always possible that her difficulties were the result of all three suggestions.