To wonder where the bees are

[Fuckitydoodah]

I've noticed a real lack of bees so far this summer. My garden would usually be full of them once the flowers are out.

I went on a dog walk through fields earlier and barely saw any. It's been hot and sunny here this afternoon and I've seen only 2 or 3 in the garden. I've got a lot of lavender and in previous years it's been covered in bees.

Has anyone else noticed a lack of bees?

Is it because we had a cold and wet spring and now a fairly crappy summer? Or is there a more sinister reason like the use of pesticides?

Cold and wet spring/summer, mostly. My self-seeded buddleia in front of the kitchen window was swarming with insects last year, at some point there were seven different species of butterfly on it. It's flowering just now and I saw one lonely bumble bee on it yesterday. The blackbirds are so hungry they are picking off my black currents which they usually leave alone.

Seen a couple but mostly dead :(

Too many slugs and snails this year though. They're everywhere.

An OK number of bees in our garden, but hardly any butterflies and really low numbers of any other insects, including ladybirds. It is worrying

@hattie43 don’t worry, our native hornets aren’t a problem for bees :)

Farming Today was talking about the lack of bees (and other pollinators) at a local lavender farm this morning. It's the cold wet spring.

A lot of them died over winter. As it was mild they came out early thinking it was spring and there was nothing for them to eat. It's really frightening.

They're all on my Hebes!

Plenty of bees in my garden. I walked into a swarm on the coastal path in Norfolk (no space to get round them) and got stung when one got tangled in my hair.

Not many butterflies though.

We have loads (I'm in Gloucestershire) Yesterday in the sun there were bees and hover flies galore. We are VERY lazy gardeners though. The grass is not cut, the hebe and honeysuckle, brambles and ivy are all rampant. Yesterday we even had a visit from a hummingbird-hawk-moth - it really liked our honeysuckle!

Are farmers more likely to say this than highlight the Neonicotinoids they've been poisoning them with?

Same here, very few bees, butterflies etc. Hundreds of slug though, I couldn't believe it Sat night, the lawn was covered in them.

Another lazy Glos gardener. We've got loads of insects, and caterpillars for various butterflies/moths.
I only tend to mow the lawn once/twice a year though. It's currently full of clover, buttercups, common vetch, yellow rattle and other wildflowers. I won't cut it again until September.

Our local allotment has bees, and the keepers have cleared so many swarms that they're having to get loads of new hives for them.

It appears we have all the bees here!

A huge decline in bees and butterflies this year. I do some butterfly surveys/counts for butterfly conservation and haven’t seen many at all this year even in specific butterfly nature reserves, numbers are really low. Bees seemed to appear early but have now disappeared (or at least reduced in numbers).

We try and plant native wild flowers in our garden specifically for the bees and butterflies, it’s usually buzzing in July, yesterday I only saw 2 butterflies and a handful of bees.

They all over my lavender... Lots of swarms as my face book is full of people asking for help

Our garden full of different kinds of bees - leaf cutters, masonry, bumbles and solitary bees. Our hives are also thriving. Not all of our beekeeper colleagues have the same story though. Maybe it is geographical.

Saw three on my purple loosestrife this morning (v small urban garden).

There are hardly any bees here - Yorkshire. Usually our buddleia bush is covered in butterflies but I haven't seen a single one this year.
Whatever the reason, it's very concerning.

It feels like We have all of the bees in my garden.

We had loads in our garden when we did have a slight hotter spell, but the weather has been so - bleh.

Im sick of bastard slugs. They've killed so many of my plants this year - I now walk around the garden centre Googling whether or not slugs like a particular plant. They ate my poppies and salvias. Thankfully lavender and hebes don't seem so attractive!

Ive had quite a lot of bees in the front garden, the seem to like a purple plant I put in. They also seem to like my blue hibiscus. They were late to appear this year though

We have a lot in our garden every time the sun comes out. I plant specifically for pollinators so there is a big concentration of flowers in a small area.
We are in London so I think there are lots of gardens close together with a huge variety of flowering plants plus a few wilder areas with brambles and plenty of dandelions in the spring.

I have a lot of pollinator plants in the garden and saw plenty of bees earlier this year, but it has just been too cold and wet recently to see them out in abundance unfortunately. I usually like to watch the front garden border be taken over by pollinators, and try and identity different types of bees, but haven’t been able to the last few weeks. I’ve just chopped back a few of my herbaceous perennials just now so hopefully there will be a next flush of late summer blooms to come. Try actively planting bee attracting plants in your garden if you haven’t already got them, lavender, salvias, monarda, snaps, single dahlias, hyssop etc

I've got plenty in my garden. Bees, hoverflies, ants, spiders, etc. Not so many butterflies.
It's been cold and wet for a lot longer this year, which has an impact.

I've concentrated on making our garden in the SW as nature friendly as possible, with a range of flowering plants for different seasons.
We've had bees since late winter including Hairy Footed Garden Bees, Bumbles, Honey & Solitary (mostly mason & leaf cutter). When it's dry the garden is full of them, but today is raining hard so nothing is about.
It's just been so cold & wet for months. & yes Bumbles can survive colder conditions, they can't really fly in the rain so, if it's cold they'll need to feed more, more often but can be about, but not in the cold & rain unfortunately.
We've also got lots of different flies, hover flies, spiders, bugs, moths etc But no butterflies or ladybirds - again just too cold & wet.
Yesterday I found an Elephant Hawk Moth in the kitchen & relocated it to the buddleia; & a few weeks ago we had a Hummingbird Hawk Moth feeding on a salvia - so there is hope.