to not know that bees sleep in flowers? Did you know this?!

[aforestgrewandgrew]

Female bees who haven't made it back to the hive in time, and roving male bees snuggle down inside flowers, apparently.

Is this not the cutest thing ever?! How did I not know this?

I told DS and he said "yes mum, bees sleep in flowers" as if it was common knowledge. But both DP and I had to ask Google before we believed it. Link

I had no idea!, did you?

I've tried to rescue bees twice. I get the DC to help make up a sugar solution & leave it by the bee only for the flipping thing to go & die so I've got to spirit it away before the DC notice & pretend it flew off of it's own accord. Last one seemed to have tiny insects - mites maybe? - crawling all over it so I guess it was probably ill before it collided with our shed window. It did come over for a little drink then hid from the hot sun under some damp kitchen paper so I like to think we made it's last few minutes a bit more comfortable...

The pixies do lovely bee burial.

I shall now be dreaming of little bees asleep in flowers

Awww

A whole new line of business for Anne Geddes.

The idea that we don't know how bees fly is a complete myth. No scientist has evet said that.

There's a nature sanctuary near us where they have a bee hive inside with a tube to the outside. It has a glass side so you can see them. If you want to find the queen you can feel the glass. There is a warm spot where she is. Mmmmmmmm 🐝

On the cuteness thing after a rather drunken conversation a friend and I decided the cutest thing ever would be a kitten bee, a sort of crossbreed between a kitten (not a cat - it was that kind of conversation) and a bumble bee.

So it would be quite round and fat, wiht kitten ears and tail but with wings and a stripy fuzzy body and about 1.5-2 inches long - the pixies would dare climb on it.

Mil bless her bought Dd a knock off Anne Geddes bee it was the ugliest doll ever she had a couple of real ones and this mutant 1

Now have visions of little pixies in little black hats at a bloody bee funeral cheers Liney . Oh and it was Chris Packham that told me the bee flying fact.

Aaahh, bless their fuzzy little selves :-)

The 'science says that bumblebees can't fly' thing comes from someone working out that their wing size/body mass combo would make them unable to glide for any distance. And indeed their gliding skills are not much better than those of the average housebrick. But they can flap their wings amazingly hard and fast, and so they can (obviously!) fly.

They can get stuck inside tulips. I had to keep rescuing them in the spring.

Liney is right!!!

That is bee-autiful. (Sorry) It is super cute though and I didn't know that either!

the idea of dream feeding a bee is making me

We've had masses of mining bees in the front lawn...of course this means I couldn't possible mow it

londonrach What a beautiful photograph.

Ssash

Omigod - a Kittenbee! I would have tiny kitbee flap put in my door in a heartbeat of I thought I could encourage them to come and live here.

I would also spray the entire house with "Pixie-B-Gone" - there's no mythical wee folk hitching rides on my Kittenbee, tugging its whiskers and pulling its teeny-weeny li'l white ears.

I would comb its velvety fur (does it have stripes? say it has stripes?) every night to ensure that none of the "kindlyones" had secreted themselves upon its person.

It has got stripes!- I re-read your post. Huzzah!

Pixies have a good right to do a lovely bee funeral Liney - they've had loads of practice! But it doesn't do the bee any good for them to be sentimental about it once its dead!

There's actually a small firm of pixie undertakers down the end of my garden behind the bluebells. Their little black mourning clothes are made out of discarded sunflower seed casings by the looks of it.

Liney

Those are not sunflower seed casings - they are beetle carapaces. Seed casings are a bugger to sew.

There is a goblin Monumental Mason's at the bottom of our garden, tucked under the edge the water feature - Vizigxx Sludgepocket and Sons. We often see the tiny beech nut hearses, drawn by six magnificently shining black slugs, wending down past the birdbath on their way to the cemetery. Very respectful on the way down, pixies are, but they lash those poor gastropods into a frenzy on the way back. I suspect they're p*ssed on elderberry beer - they don't call it pixilated for nothing, you know. They're usually singing vulgar ditties and mooning the butterflies, too.

No respect.