UKC

I've noticed, we're early July now and no bees. Hardly any. We have lavender in bloom and cotoneaster which the bees are usually all over. Lots of plants that the bees love are empty of any.

Anyone else having the same experience? Or reasons? Coolness, late frost?

Where are you?

Our cotoneaster, in Mid Argyll, has been humming with the sound of bees. They are all over it. Maybe something regional has happened?

The lavender and heebee are all in full bloom in my garden. Normally covered in bees. I've not seen one.

Garden - has been quiet generally for all invertebrates though coincidentally today I’ve seen more bees than any other day this year. Only small numbers though compared with recent years.

Outwith - fewer bees this year but still some about up here in and around Fife. Mostly solitary bee species I’ve seen, but starting to see a few more bumblebee species though still few honeybees I think.

Dragonflies almost non existent this year in places I’ve been to - seen just two species once each! Fewer damselflies seen so far this year too. Butterfly species and their numbers seem down also this year so far though it has been picking up with numbers for some species just in the last couple of weeks.

Speaking to others these are common observations sadly. Not confined just to invertebrates. Not had any real reasons, though weather is one part. 

Bees aplenty in the White Peak. No wasps yet though.

Some info here

https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/are-you-seeing-very-few-bumblebees-th...

My car windscreen suggests that there are noticeably more bugs around this summer than for a decade or more.

Fewer after I've driven past, obviously.  

T.

That's encouraging then.

There's a nice little meadow not far from here that was humming with ashy mining bees when I 'discovered' it during the pandemic.  They're beautiful elegant little black and white solitary burrowing bees, only really active above ground in April, May and June.

Last year I thought their numbers might be a wee bit down on the previous few years but wasn't really sure, this year I haven't seen a single one.  I assume that's because it was so cold and damp right through the Spring but don't really know.  I hope they'll be able to make a recovery next year.

If anyone has planted oilseed rape near you the bees will ignore everything else and head for the yellow stuff. Or so my several beekeeping mates tell me.

We're down in Derbyshire. Heartened to hear they are out in the nearby White Peak. The article MG linked to may explain.

I’ve seen a few bees, but butterflies! Waaaay low numbers. 

Few bees in our garden in Cheshire. Like you we have lots of plants attractive to bees.

The 'no-mow' initiative was our best shot at reversing invertebrate decline but thanks to Alan Titchmarsh etal it became a culture war and we are back to where we were 

We had loads in our garden earlier in the summer, and a bumblebee hive in an old bird box, but I’ve noticed there’s been very few the last couple of weeks

This is worth knowing about on a national/international level, Glyphosate inhibits melanin production across all insect species, with melanin production linked to immune function. Other studies find it inhibits navigational abilities in drone bees. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8115815/

West coast Scotland, island. Lots of bees this year, feels like more than most years. Our garden is full of flowering bushes and has had a constant hum for weeks.

I've also noticed this year that on long drives my windscreen needs the insects cleaning off. It's a long time since I've had to do that.

Not as many in our garden as normal and it seems this year I was seeing bumble queens much later than normal. I'm wondering if they came out late and failed to find a new nest spot. 

Same here - it's a bit sad

My workroom is in the roof space of my house and has large velux windows front and rear. Bees have often used this as a shortcut across the house in good weather when the windows are open - something I'm always very pleased to see.

Not this year. Haven't noticed a single bee so far.

Same in the garden, where we keep an area un-mowed and "wild" for insects etc. Pretty worrying.

(Manchester)

Hardly any bees in our Leicestershire garden currently, despite hebe, cotoneaster and verbascum, and didn't see many in Suffolk over the weekend. They were around in droves during Spring. No rape crop locally.

Very few in our wild garden in Sheffield. 

For a bit of inspiration and hope, try and get to see 'Wilding' on at cinemas just now.

Our lavender has had the occasional honey bee visit this week but as yet no Bumblebees. Normally it's hoachin' with them. We went to a lavender farm last week and struggled to find any bees at all. I've left the clover to grow in the grass this year but again little activity. I'm in SE London.

Hopefully that article posted above means we do see a late burst of activity.

Not as many bees and other insects here in this bit of London. A notable missing insect around here is the cinnabar moth. I live close to an area that has a lot of common ragwort. Usually, by this time of the year there would be plenty the moth caterpillars on the ragwort.

I looked about an hour ago on my way back home and found none.

Dave

I have a bee house which is home to both mason bee and leaf cutter bee colonies - I can see into it which gives me some insight into what's happening with them. 

With the mason bees, I had a large population from last year, and they all hatched, however the survival and laying rate this spring was very low. I put this down to cold wet weather. Generally, we would have one warm sunny day, and a bunch would hatch and start building cells. Then the temperature would drop. I would see them huddling in the bee house for a couple of days, and then they would vanish. I suspect they were succumbing to cold or starvation in the poor weather. I will have a very small colony at the start of next year.

None of my leaf cutters have emerged yet. They are usually out in late June, but it has been colder than usual, which I suspect is driving the delay - they usually emerge after 3-4 warm sunny days in a row and we haven't really had that here. I did see one (which must have come from a different colony) taking pieces of strawberry leaf yesterday though, so I have hope!

We had a warm day here on Saturday, and all the foxgloves and clover in my garden were full of various species of bumblebee. Most of my other bee-flowers are not out yet though - these are also delayed by the cold weather. Lavendar, borage, phacelia, cosmos - all  usually draw the bees but none are quite in flower. I haven't seen any honeybees yet, but they tend to come for the phacelia, so I hope to see more once it flowers!

I saw a lot on my bottlebrush over the weekend. I almost took a photo as there were so many

I live on a modern housing estate in a large village. The gardens are typically tiny and most are given over to immaculate lawns or have been paved for extra parking. My own tiny front garden is probably the only one on the estate that has wildlife at its centre.

It's just big enough for a single Hawthorn and Blackthorn, which together with a broom and creeping pine form a sort of woodland edge which then merges into a very unkempt "meadow".

In the "meadow" the Oxeye Daises are past their best now, but the Devil's-bit Scabious are just getting going along with the Selfheal and the Meadow Crane's-bill. There are various yellow things which look like dandelions but aren't and some nice Welsh Poppies, and lots of Herb-Robert.

It's normally very busy with hoverflies and bees but the numbers do seem to be well down this year. I'm hoping it's just down to the wet and cool weather rather than part of a longer term trend. Without the insects and all the other small stuff that runs the world, we are frankly, f""ked.

Recently a gardener knocked on my door to ask if I wanted any work or tree removal carried out . "I notice you've got a Hawthorn there" he said.

"Yes I know, I planted it there" I replied.

"Oh.........." he said.

I think it should be compulsory for a significant proportion of all gardens to be planted with native species.

I live in a 1950s housing estate. It's quite easy to tell who are original owners and who are newer owners. The original owners mostly have some form of garden in the front, and it's generally shrubs/perrenials/small trees and bedding. The newer owners have generally paved or gravelled all of the front for extra parking - if you are lucky they might have a few hydrangeas in pots. When we moved in, we bemused most of our neighbours by ripping most of the parking space out and turning it back into garden.

My neighbours moved in ~1 year ago. They bought the house from the original owner and inherited a lovely mature shrub garden (albeit a bit overgrown since she was no longer really able to care for it). Within two weeks it was all gone - pristine white gravel for parking in the front, everything ripped out of the back and laid to lawn, everything overhanging pruned hard back to the boundaries. I was so sad!

I feel a bit mean because they are lovely people, but I have to laugh at the effort it takes them to keep on top of all the seedlings from my wild-flower patch rooting in their lovely white gravel!

Further note - I have two ponds into which I planted purple loosestrife mainly, but not solely, for the bees. They are normally covered in bees of all types. Its been a lovely, warm, calm day day here and the loosestrife is now in flower as you can see from the picture from my office (front garden). There's also lavendar in full bloom. Nothing on them at all. 

Lived in this house since the early 80s and never had Self Heal on the lawn until this year. No idea where it's come from.

I was going to disagree coz I recently saw loads of bees in Aberdeenshire and Inverness. But then my local council in C Scotland have developed this lovely wild flower meadow. I was walking past enjoying it this morning, then I realised I didn't see one single bee

This afternoon, for the first time this year, there were several different types of bee on the clover patch in my wee garden; fingers crossed.

East Hertfordshire. Barely an insect in sight. 

Spent a few days recently in South Essex. That's the same. 

It's a tragic loss and the whole food chain follows suit. 

This won't have helped:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/08/watchdog-launch...

I noticed very low numbers in the Gower in June during the climbing festival: we walked through a nature reserve and the dunes near Oxwich with amazing wild flowers but very few bees.

I read that a few days ago and I was so angry I probably looked like a Tory eating a mouthful of bees! I wonder how many of them will profit from it in some way? 

It's depressing how many people view trees as a nuisance. Even more so when it's someone whose trade should be geared towards planting more of them, rather than wanting to remove them.

0n a more positive note, when I came home from work this event the Lavender was busy with Bumblebees. I saw more in 5 mins than I’ve seen in 2months! Hopefully the trend continues.

Thanks for posting that article. I’m curious what happens now that we have a new government.

The emergency use was restricted to Sugar beet as a seed treatment only in certain areas where winter temps had not been sufficient to control the virus spreading aphids. Sugar beet does not flower so would only affect pollinating plants in the tiny areas around fields, if at all. Given that you have no sugar factories in Wales I doubt the lack of bees is from this use.

Do you think the EU went over the top in banning these chemicals? Do you think it's unnecessary for the watchdog to be investigating DEFRA for authorising their use?

I don't know, pesticide regulation is an intensely regulated industry and you would need to be an e-fate professional to take a view. I just doubt that some treated beet seed in east Anglia is causing a decline of invertebrates in Wales. Something is going on, it's terrible, but neonics used to be used on every single crop and we have not seen a spring back since the ban. Also, many many EU countries issue similar emergency authorisations for sugar beet. What is causing the decline I don't know but at a guess I would say the mower is way more to blame, with every pass it kills an entire ecosystem.  Stop mowing peeps.

From the linked article:

The idea this constitutes tight regulation is ridiculous, before we even consider how cash starved all UK regulators have become since 2010. 

In any case, you are the one adding 2 and 2 and getting 5, as I didn't claim a unique causal link to the national decline, let alone oddly low numbers in a nature reserve in Oxwich. I just said such use of a pesticide, so toxic to bees that it is now banned in the EU, wouldn't help. I'm sensitive to this as I used to work alongside Biology Profs campaigning for a total ban... so what's your expertise that shows they, the HSE, the Expert Committee and the EU are wrong.

100% agree with that

It is banned. The use in sugarbeet is as an emergency approval granted or refused each year. The pesticide industry is the most tightly regulated in the world. What happens to neonics in the soil is kind of moot as their use is so restricted. I don't know if they are killing bees or not, it's such a politicised area its impossible to know what's what. That said, the ban of them has had absolutely no impact on agriculture other than a reduction in wors (impacting bees ironically). That they were so unnecessary and used so widely is a tragedy for sure. You seem to be an expert in everything, it's really amazing.

It's tightly regulated, but do you seriously think the UK is really the most tightly regulated in the world, given the EU regulations are clearly tougher; and we are involved in trade deals  on food with countries where regulation is a more lax. Plus the disastrous drops in funding UK regulators have faced since 2010. The HSE situation:

https://app.croneri.co.uk/feature-articles/perfect-storm-why-funding-cuts-a...

In any case, the earlier linked article claims government made this emergency approval decision against HSE and other scientific advice... why not explain that?

UK regulations have not changed since Brexit, we still follow 11/07 to the letter. Some withdrawals that have been made in the EU (e.g mancozeb) are still approved in the UK but that's only a delay, we will be following the EU decision. I said before, all EU member states that have sugar beet as a main crop still grant emergency authorisations on an annual basis for neonic seed treatments. The UK takes a stricter approach than most, restricting it to certain areas and certain years. CRD is responsible for pesticide regulation, UK gov has basically knack all involvement. British sugar did try to lobby the conservatives to prevent a ban and it went nowhere, we still voted for the ban. I am not pro conventional farming, but on a global scale the UK has very high cutoff points and we should be quite proud of what we are trying to do. When the EU bans something the rest of the world generally has to follow as they also cut MRL's to zero. The Guardian can be a little naive and lacking in nuance sometimes, especially in ag. 

Chemicals Regulation Division are part of the HSE, are they immune to those massive HSE cuts? The Guardian saying HSE opposed the approval wouldn't be nuance it would be an outright error requiring a correction and a formal apology.

https://www.hse.gov.uk/pesticides/enforcement/index.htm

I've also worked on farms and alongside researchers in our farming/food department and know how stupid some 'bad egg' farmers can be at times. Regulation is important. I know full well we have high standards in the UK but that doesnt mean we should ignore concerns of expert critics on pesticide specifics nor serious concerns on overall cuts in funding for regulation. What happened to regulation of rivers gives us a clear warning .... pre-2010 this had led to significant improvement in water quality, a situation that has sadly reversed thanks to regulatory change and austerity impacts.

This was my first search result on EU regulatory change on emergency permissions:

https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/eu-to-tighten-grip-o...

Is the use of neonocnitoids really regulated by the HSE in the UK? Here in Germany it's the agricultural ministry which is responsible.

My neighbour farmed some sugerbeet and I've chatted with him a few times about the ban. The last emergency permits were issued in 2021 and only covered 1/3rd of the areas affected and came with such strong regulation that susequently nearly a half abandoned sugarbeet as a crop. Why? The sugar beet is harvested before flowering so bees have extremely limited exposure (it is in the plants themselves as it is applied to the seeds with a protective coating) and the requirement is that the following crop may not provide a food source to bees so the neoniconitoid residues have time (minimum 9 months) to degenerate and the crops are tested to ensure the levels are below the minimum. The alternative is a crop loss of ca. 50% which in the case of my neighbour when he was affected meant he abandoned sugarbeet as a crop permenantly and in fact closure of one of the three sugar manufacturing plants in Germany.

The lower number of bees this year has been put down to spring flowering this year being three weeks early before the bees were active then a prolonged period of cold and wet weather keeping the bees in their hives.

Honey bees are not the (main) concern as they are effectively farmed animals. It's bumble bees (and other insects) which don't have hives. Neonics are phenomenally toxic to them even in minute doses and travel in e.g. water courses. Coupled with other stressors (climate change, landuse change etc.) the concerns are grave. Loss of some sugar beat is nothing compared to the potential losses if flowering crops aren't effectively pollinated (as has happened in areas of china), even if you don't give shit about biodiversity. Farmers managed before neonics and can manage again.

It's not HSE no, it's CRD responsible who report to DEFRA. Farmers are doing without neonics, they have been banned 

That's not correct 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/emergency-pesticide-authorisation-to-pro...

From the HSE link above:

There's a piece in today's Graun about an absence of butterflies this year, as well as bees etc:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/13/butterflies-s...

Basically seems to be the weather, but also the long term decline in insect and invertebrate populations.

To my shame I hadn't thought of butterflies, but I dont recall seeing even one this year. How easy it is not notice these things.

It is correct, they are banned. Crd is giving an emergency authorisation for a non-approved a.s.

Don't be ridiculous.  If there are being used legally, they are not banned.

It's not ridiculous, it's the terminology of 11/07. A.s are governed by the EU comission and neonics were approved for pretty much every use you can imagine, ST and foliar. as the majority of member states voted for a ban of an approved a.s they are banned. However at a member state level we have the ability to approve emergency authorisations in response to a threat to food production. That could be neonics or organophosphates or dmi's or any other banned substance. An emergency authorisation does not equal and approval. We are still following 11/07, there is no GB regime in place replace it so I don't understand why there would be a decline in our regulatory standards. 

We were disappointed when new neighbours moved in across the way from us and chopped down the russet apple tree. Since allowing our garden to run riot a little it is very low on maintenance. A little minimal weeding to keep things from taking over. We planted three cordon apple trees, which did well last year but not this year (I blame the cold wet spring). No blossom on one and 6 apples in total off the other two.

Apple trees follow a diurnal pattern, second year is always a bit of a duff. Lots of nutrition can help mitigate but they build up reserves for a number second year.

Just as observation, the standards can be the same but the enforcement not and/or EU member states have always interpreted standards there own way, and at least in medicinesthe U.K. has often been at the lax/permissive end of the spectrum.

It is true, but in ag what happens in the EU the rest of the world follows. It's a huge export market, they set MEL's to zero and it's effectively a global ban. Loss of resources at CRD has so far delayed decisions but they have not come to a different conclusion on any molecule so far.

Hmmm. Brexit was wanted by some precisely so we wouldn't get "bogged down" by "red tape" ........

Bees, bumble and honey, returning to our Leicestershire garden. Not many yet but a hopeful sign.

I have seen none in my garden in Bristol.  Getting a bit concerned.

Thanks for that. I was a bit worried about them.

Alas for my wife. She put out her corgettes just before we went away and we came back to none. Slugs are the prime culprit