Now for an off-beat question.
 
It has been my impression that honeybees foraging from their hive tend
NOT to visit flowers very close to the hive! Has anyone else had this same
impression? Does anyone know of any data on the intensity of bee visits
to flowers from very close to, and away from hives? I am wondering if
there is a graph (or some thing similar) which shows distance from
the hive on the horizontal axis and intensity of visits on the vertical
axis, but starts say 0.5 metres from the hive and then goes out.
If my impression is correct, which seems unlikely, then there should
be a narrow zone of relatively lower intensity of bee activity close
to the hive, and a peak at some distance away, falling off slowly with
increasing distance to zero far away.
 
Any thoughts would be most appreciated.
 
Thanks, Peter Kevan, U of Guelph, Canada.