Bees in Kent
Bees, like wasps, are yellow and
black striped on their bodies – although some bees tend to be more orange and
black – but the warning is the same: stay away, I have a sting in my tail.
Despite this rather unfortunate
sting in the tail, bees tend to be looked on more favourably than the wasp,
seen as aggressive and ‘useless’. The bee well known for being a great
pollinator of plants and flowers, as well as the honey bee creating a delicious
sugary substance that is delightful on toast, as well as having medicinal
properties.
And bees certainly have magical
qualities that make it much easier to understand why the bee is favoured…
·
They are the only insect in the world that makes
a food we can eat
·
Honey has everything in it that we need, from
vitamins to enzymes
·
1 honey bee will make half a teaspoon of honey
in its lifetime
·
With only one queen bee keeping order of
anything between 20 to 60,000 bees, colonies are well-ordered places
·
The queen bee can lay 1,500 eggs a day
·
Bees have been around 30 million years
·
And the venom of a 1,000 bees would be enough to
be fatal to a human
Are
bees protected in the UK?
Many people do believe that bees
are protected or should be protected as they are fabulous pollinators, and
essential for gardeners, farmers and so on. The Wildlife and Countryside Act
1981 list protected species in the UK, but neither the honey bee, bumble bee
nor any other species of bee is included under this act.
If you have bees in your garden,
then consider yourself lucky but, if the colony is too close for comfort then
it is time to act.
Can I
deal with it myself?
Bees, like wasps, can deliver a
nasty sting although they are loath to do so as in some cases it can spell the
end of life for the bee. But there is another, hidden and sometimes fatal danger
that lurks…
… some people can be allergic to
bee stings but, until they are stung, will not know about it. This anaphylactic
reaction can be fatal, unless emergency treatment is received as soon as
possible. Some people know they are allergic to wasp and/or bee stings and
carry an auto-injector pen containing adrenalin, but many other will not be
aware that they are potentially allergic.
For this reason alone, do NOT
attempt to deal with a bee colony or hive yourself! ALWAYS call a professional
pest controller.
Not
always exterminated
Unlike wasps, bees are not always
exterminated; some swarms will be collected and taken to a local apiary. This
is like a ‘bee nursery’ and means that the bees can go about their pollinating,
but without encroaching on human ‘spaces’ too much!
