Let's hear it for the bee's

At this time of year we are starting to see wasps flying about in gardens all over the Reading area, wasp nests are still very small in size: actual wasp numbers' will be in the tens and the nest size is around that of a grapefruit. 

We get a lot of callouts for what people think are wasps and are actually bee's - usually the white tailed bumble bee and sometimes honey bee's - honey bee's are still swarming at this time of year and we just had one turn up in Calcot. In this case we directed the homeowner to the local Beekeepers Society who will happily send someone out to collect it free of charge. 

Where possible we will not treat bee's as they have a different lifecycle to wasps - bee's like the white tailed bumble bee live in small colonies and generally aren't aggressive like wasps. 

Honey bee's can be slightly more aggressive however these can, and should be re-homed through a beekeeper. We are obliged to seal up a honey bee's nest that's been treated to prevent other bee's from picking up the insecticide that we use. In the case of a bee's nest that's lodged inside a chimney which is used as a gas fire flue, this is impossible so they will need to be re-homed anyway. 

Other types of bee's such as the leaf cutter bee and the masonry bee pose little threat to us as their stinger has become shorter through evolution - they can't sting us pure and simple. 

Masonry bee's emerge in a nuptial flight in late summer from well drained sandy soils and this is quite a spectacle as hundreds of furry bee's turn up out of the blue and mate in great clumps which pose no threat to us.