THE hot summer of 2003 has been a wonderful year for sitting in he sun and watching insects, especially bees.
The coming weeks will be a problem because wasps have been building up in numbers. Bees, however, do more good than harm and do not usually sting unless provoked.
Many flowers are pollinated by bees and I spent a lot of time in Bell Wood between Roughlee and Blacko, watching them work.
The bell-shaped flowers of the foxglove are particularly attractive to bees because of the pollen and nectar found inside. The foxglove is poisonous to humans but bees are not affected at all.
Knapweed is another plant which is attractive to bees and so are thistles, which contain a mixture of nectar (dilute sugar) and pollen.
As the bees move from one flower to another they ensure that cross-pollination occurs and new seeds are produced for next year.
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