Where have all the bees gone?

[SlickMick]

I have just returned from 6 weeks in Germany (Berlin and Dahn), France, (Paris and country France), England (near Brisol) and Ireland (Dublin, Galway and surrounding areas and Waterford).

Being a hobby beekeeper of some 18 years I was dumbfounded that the only place that I say the honeybee was in Monet's garden. It cant have been that I was not near places where I could expect to see bees but where ever I looked the solitary bee was the only one that I saw. In country around Dahn no honeybees were evident, in the country areas around Bristol there were none and around Galway out in the Connemara and also on the south of the bay, nothing.

A colleague phoned the other day, He has recently spent a month in Europe and he was aware of the bee's absence. Both of us were surprised also at the lack of bird call.

Is this what is usual for the areas I went or is there an issue over there?

Slicko

[Finski]

.
I think that beehives are hidden for thieves and for nuisance. One guy said that he had never seen beehives in Finland.
Yes, we keep them out of sight.

In England in 2 years they have got 40% beekeepers more and 78% hives more. It is a huge jump!

[SlickMick]

That is interesting. I saw the occasional hive but certainly no bees to speak of

Slicko

[Somerford]

Slicko - if I had known you were in the area you would have been welcome to visit my apiarys ! I am not far from Bristol !

Still, next time eh ?

Rest assured I know the location of well over 100 hives locally !

regards

Stephen