To be fucking upset that my neighbours

[PisforPeter]

Have started keeping mason bees??
They look like wasps but are mason bees apparently. We live in new build houses so gardens are small & our patio area is now full of these insects. I'm so upset & have 2 young dc's. What can I do??

Surely if they're solitary they can't swarm?

I wouldn't fancy a lot of buzzing insects swarming around either, regardless of them being non stinging .

I feel exactly the same about cats but I am in a minority there. Bees, however, are vital and I'd welcome anybody trying to increase numbers.

Do you feel comfortable asking them to move the hive from near the boundary?

I don't care if theyre harmless, there are many things I dislike regardless of whether they will hurt me or not. YANBU

So, we moved into the house we live in now, and thought we had a hive of wasps in the front garden. Got the exterminator out, who told, much as been said above, that they are masonary bees and harmless. I was sceptical that I wouldn't be bothered by them, but I have to say I really haven't.

I think I might get some next year.

OP, I'm sorry they are upsetting you. I'm sure your next door neighbour didn't want to make being outside unpleasant for you. They don't live long.

bees have a 'flight path' to their hive, and dont tend to 'swarm around' We had bees when i was younger and didnt get stung any more than anyone else i knew and also hardly noticed them. If you notice the flight path is across your garden, i dont think you would be out of order to ask them to relocate it.

these ones sound less 'stingy' than normal ones, we NEED bees, (www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8306970/Einstein-was-right-honey-bee-collapse-threatens-global-food-security.html) if we lose the bees, then we are in big trouble!

Albert Einstein, who liked to make bold claims (often wrong), famously said that "if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, man would have only four years to live".

so in my eyes, pull up your big girl pants and appreciate your neighbours trying to save the planet

YANBU to be worried but now you know they are no threat to you I think you are being silly and precious.

Well, OP can just say that to her toddler then. Problem Solved!

Im teerified of wasps and do get a bit iffy around bees simply because of the noise, however i wouldn't object to these.
Bees are dying out, we need them.
Id be trying to teach my child they're harmless and nothing to be scared of.
It's horrible to have a phobia.

Your neighbours probably thought oh Christ, 2 kids.

Maybe neighbours beekeeping is his solution to neighbours shrieking kids playing happily outside?

I think I will remember this trick when I become an old(er) and even more cantankerous woman.

To set up a hive in very close proximity to a play area for toddlers - words fail me.

It's not a play area for toddlers it's a patio in someone else's garden!

These bees aren't harmful. We need bees in cities as much as the countryside.

Yet I'd've co differed unreasonable for complaining about other people's cats shitting in the front garden which could cause real harm to a child.

• I'd be considered

My dd is terrified of cats, my neighbours have 3 who like to play in our garden and sleep in her play house. You have my sympathies op, but it's all part of having neighbours I feel, especially as they are harmless.

it's all part of having neighbours I feel, especially as they are harmless.

Neighbours? Cats? or Bees?

I think cats probably are on the most harmless list - at least they catch mice!

Just because they're harmless doesn't mean that they aren't annoying!! Flies are "harmless" but I'm buggered if I want them buzzing around my head.

I'd make a bee-line to my nearest professional pest controller and have him set up death traps in your garden. He might be able to give you poison that they can take back to the hives and kill at root?

I'd make a bee-line to my nearest professional pest controller and have him set up death traps in your garden. He might be able to give you poison that they can take back to the hives and kill at root?

You are taking the piss aren't you? seems a bit harsh to kill off the hive.

YANBU OP. I am absolutely terrified of wasps and I'm afraid if these things look like wasps, I'd be a nervous wreck in the house with my doors and windows all shut.

They may be harmless, but so are bluebottle flies and I wouldn't want a load of them next door, flying all around my patio.

It's all well and good having great intentions, but a small garden in a built up area just isn't the place for something like that.

Bees aren't 'pests' loop, what a horrible thing to suggest when ive already said they'll be dead in a few weeks.

I think cats probably are on the most harmless list - at least they catch mice!

And birds. And voles. And other small creatures that do t need catching and killing for fun.

Not to mention fleas.

I love mason bees. And they are harmless. Teach your children the benefits of them, rather than to be afraid of them.