Steve Noble:

> I have no doubt whatsoever that without bumblebees, a lot of things would 
> suffer a lack of pollination.

Here in the UK I see mainly honeybees on our apple, bumblebees and median 
wasps pollinating the raspberries (never seen a honeybee on them),  but the 
plums and gooseberries seem to be pollinated almost exclusively by the 
solitary mining bee, Andrena fulva which should start to appear in the next 
week or two.

Although there are concerns about bumblebees, we seem to have very large 
numbers this year - I counted 15 queens (all Bombus terrestris) on a small 
patch (perhaps 15'x8') of Ericas yesterday, and they are also working Ribes, 
Viburnum, Pulmonaria and Hellebores - the garden is alive with them. 
Although we have other species which will appear later, terrestris 
dominates - possibly because of escapes of (imported) bumblebees from 
polytunnels.
Best wishes

Peter Edwards
beekeepers at stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk
www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk/

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned 
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html