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[Sir Tigger KC]

I've just been contacted by a neighbour of a house that I'm doing up at the mo, to tell me that he thinks there is a bees nest in the chimney. 

I told him to feel free to go up and help himself to the honey! 

He doesn't seem impressed!   

[BazaJT]

No sense of enterprise or adventure some folk

[Raeturbo]

Mm, I always thought it was.. go down for the honey???

[Doctor Gollum]

I think they're protected, so best get a bee keeper to have a look before you do anything

[Andy B]

We've a bee's in the roof of my garage, they come & go via a small gap under the fascia board. We were watching them yesterday as two bees were at the entrance fanning the nest with their wings. We had another a few years ago nesting in a bird nesting box so I phoned a bee keeper society who just said that if we were OK with them just leave them to do their own thing. They went backwards & forwards & never bothered us at all.

[ronnyd]

Leave them alone and they,ll bugger off when they,re ready.

[Sir Tigger KC]

Leave them alone and they,ll bugger off when they,re ready.

My thoughts exactly and as it's a defunct flue they're not doing any harm. 

[Tony H]

Last summer I had a bubble bee nest in my tumble drier vent as I hardly use the drier in summer so I avoided using it at all and just let the bees do there own thing. It was quite interesting to watch the bees fly back and forth, especially when they were trying to manoeuvre through a little hole in the vent grill in strong winds. Come the autumn the bees got off and I got the use of my drier back. All bee populations in this country are under great pressure at the moment and need all the help they can get.
 

[redelitev6]

Leave them alone and they,ll bugger off when they,re ready.

But where's the fun in that ? 

[Bigron]

Have you ever seen the "waggle-dance" that returning bees do to show the others where the good pollen is? Absolutely fascinating. They are very intelligent creatures with incredible navigational skills - even the females!

Ron.

[Sir Tigger KC]

I think I'll put some sugar water out.    As said Bees need all the help they can get! 

[Kevin Wood]

Had some massive looking things flying in and out of our roof space at the weekend. Looked like hornets or something. 

I leant from a nearby window and attacked anything that went in or out with a can of Raid for half an hour, then sprayed a load inside, and chucked a load of ant powder down where they were crawling in.

They appear to have admitted defeat, fingers crossed. Either that or they are re-grouping for a second attack.

[78bex]

Had some massive looking things flying in and out of our roof space at the weekend. Looked like hornets or something. 

I leant from a nearby window and attacked anything that went in or out with a can of Raid for half an hour, then sprayed a load inside, and chucked a load of ant powder down where they were crawling in.

They appear to have admitted defeat, fingers crossed. Either that or they are re-grouping for a second attack.

Ditto , my neighbour said they are european hornets &  the hot weather suits them just fine
Like a huge wasp about 40 mm in length & coming & going from the porch over our front door. I waited for it to fly off & then got on a step ladder & started screwing back into place the wonky plastic panel on the side of the porch
Just admiring my handy work & still 6 feet up, when a loud buzzing hornet appeared over my right shoulder  I think we both looked at one another  before I dived off the step ladder cursing 

Just googled the beast & the nests can be 700 + & the advice is not to tackle  them yourself, cos  all 700 will chase up the garden   

[BazaJT]

I have a couple of quite large and very unruly wild flowers growing in my garden they're currently about 4ft tall and 1ft across,last year I was going to dig them up to get rid of them but then noticed the bees seem to love them so I left them where they are.It seems bees need all the help they can get at present.

[aaronjb]

I think I'll put some sugar water out.    As said Bees need all the help they can get! 

You remind me of a story I read recently - I can't find the actual story (which was quite long), but the condensed version here: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/nyregion/30bigcity.html

tl;dr: Bees in New York were going after the red syrup used to dye Maraschino cherries, turning the honey red. (Spoiler: This lead the authorities to the cherry factory where, though he cleaned up the spillages and protected the bees, they found a rather large hydroponic weed factory and the head of the family owning the factory shot himself in the loos rather than face charges)

Ah, here's the long version - it's quite an interesting read, really: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/23/the-maraschino-moguls-secret-life

[Raeturbo]

Good job Kevin, them Hornets devastate our bees they can actually cut them in half, they raid the bees and take off with all their hard earned and young.

[aaronjb]

Good job Kevin, them Hornets devastate our bees they can actually cut them in half, they raid the bees and take off with all their hard earned and young.

So they're basically the Vikings of the insect world?

[Raeturbo]

Could be

[Kevin Wood]

Sounds like I need to be ready for them if they return, then.

I have a hankering for a new toy. I wonder if TheBoy could knock me up one of these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOZV7ugBas

Reckon that'd learn the bstrds.

[Rods2]

Sounds like I need to be ready for them if they return, then.

I have a hankering for a new toy. I wonder if TheBoy could knock me up one of these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOZV7ugBas

Reckon that'd learn the bstrds.

I think TB is having a few operational trial glitches at his testing range on Saddleworth Moor at the moment.

[Kevin Wood]

At least this time he's not testing it in his Gar<cough!>

[Tony H]

Good job Kevin, them Hornets devastate our bees they can actually cut them in half, they raid the bees and take off with all their hard earned and young.

That's correct, the hornets bite them in half, however the bees have a defence against hornets once the enter the bees nest the bees raise the temperature within it by rapidly beating there wings the hornets cannot tolerate the rise in temperature which in some cases can actually kill them.