robobee
An unlikely happening? Robot Bees? Think again.
There are companies around the world creating small robotic insects that they hope will fill the role of pollinators if and when they need to supplant real bees and other insects currently performing that role.
Australia is so big that parts of Australia are still warm in a southern winter.
However, as most honeybee keepers are based around the southern coastline, this part of the world can experience a chilly and rainy season.
Most bees ( as with all insects) enter a period in winter when the life force is lower and colder temperatures govern their lives in addition to the consequent scarcity of food.
Bees, if they’ve built a hive over a Spring and a Summer ( and perhaps over many years)then their food stores should be good enough to see them over the colder winter months. There is some flowering of plants even over winter, especially around the city areas and this can be enough to keep weaker hives alive. In times of food scarcity though, beekeepers may find it necessary to feed their bees with a sugar syrup.
Rainfall is something that falls mainly in winter in the southern areas of Australia and is imperative in creating the flowers that bees will utilise in the warmer months.
Consequently, beekeepers hope for a good rainy season hoping that it bodes well for a good flowering season in bushland, forest areas and the metropolitan areas.
What did I find outside a nucleus hive a few weeks ago?
The Spring of 2015 started hot and maintained above average temperatures for most of September and now, October. There seems to have been more swarming of bees than last year and the rest of Spring will be monitored closely to see if the swarming continues on through to summer.http://beeandwaspproblems.com.au
This photo shows a few returning scout bees looking for the queen bee and fellow worker bees following the bee swarm removal.
Bees can end up in all kinds of places during Spring. These bees were rescued before they entered the tree trunk and given to a beekeeper.
A close up of a W.A. European Honeybee. We are in the middle of a swarming season where bees are moving across the towns, cities and states as they take advantage of warm weather and abundant blossoms.
It truly is a special time of the year.
A new swarm for a new Spring. The season’s swarming commenced from late August and now that the weather is warming up, the swarming should increase through September and October. Time will tell what kind of a season it will be in terms of Spring blossoms and their nectar flow, so highly dependent on rainfall over the winter months.
bee advice 