In a message dated 21/08/2008 18:15:28 GMT Standard Time, [log in to unmask]  
writes:

"I've  personally watched them fly about 9 km to oilseed rape."

I am astounded  at 9 km! 


Professor Francis Ratnieks, when at Sheffield University, had his students  
observing marked bees working heather (which blooms at a season when there is  
little else giving a reasonable amount of nectar) 12 km from the hive.  I  am 
told that marked bees based in Poole, Dorset (UK) were once seen  foraging on 
heather on the Isle of Purbeck, the far side of Poole Harbour  (second in size 
only to Sydney Harbour) about 10 km from the apiary, despite  Canford Heath, 
which usually has abundant heather, being closer.
 
Chris



   

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