A Sting in the Tale by Dave Goulson
As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast:
The subtitle of this book is My Adventures with Bumblebees.
Dave's book is fascinating and it will change the way you think about bumblebees.
When he was a little boy, Dave became obsessed with wildlife. Although he grew up with a menagerie of pets, bumblebees were his passion. I thought you would enjoy hearing a few excerpts from Dave's book.
Here's where he talks about the biology of the Bumblebee:
“They have to eat almost continually to keep warm; a bumblebee with a full stomach is only ever about forty minutes from starvation. If a bumblebee runs out of energy, she cannot fly, and if she cannot fly, she cannot get to flowers to get more food, so she is doomed.”
Then, here's where Dave tells us what we can do to help the Bumblebee. The answer for gardeners is a pretty simple one. Dave writes:
“The key to helping our rarer species to thrive is probably simply to add more flower patches to the landscape, making it a little easier for them to find food and keep their nests well provisioned.”
And Dave is hopeful about the future of the Bumblebee And about the impact that each of us can have on their survival. He writes:
“Conserving bumblebees is something anyone can do. A single lavender bush on a patio or in a window box will attract and feed bumblebees, even in the heart of a city."
And I love that Dave includes this fantastic quote from Andrew Downing, the 19th-century American horticulturist.
“The music of the busy bee Is drowsy, and it comforts me; But, ah! ’tis quite another thing, When that same bee concludes to sting!”
Dave’s book came out in 2014.
SI HORTUM IN HORTORIA PODCASTA IN BIBLIOTEHCA HABES, NIHIL DEERIT.