Latest news with #bees
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Science
- Irish Times
Eye on Nature: If bees can't see red, why is one drawn to this red poppy?
I saw this red poppy with a bumblebee inside. I always thought that bees couldn't see red and so never visited red flowers. This bee seems very busy inside this one. J Rushe, Co Clare You are right: bees cannot see the colour red; their eyes don't see colours at that end of the spectrum. But at the other end, the ultraviolet end, they see very well. There are well-defined markings in ultraviolet in poppies and this is what attracts bees in to seek for food. Interestingly, the same species of poppy in the Middle East does not have these UV markings, and there they are pollinated by beetles. Linnet. Photograph supplied by S Woods What is this bird that I saw perched on a grass stalk in Irishtown Nature Reserve in early June? There were loads of them there. S Woods, Dublin This is a linnet, which has become quite uncommon because the intensification of our grasslands for cattle has greatly reduced the biodiversity of species found there. Linnets feed on a variety of seeds, especially thistles, and the use of herbicides and hedge removal has also contributed to their decline. Irishtown Nature Reserve is an excellent habitat for them and shows the value of such places. READ MORE Box tree caterpillar. Photograph supplied by C Birch The bush near where I live is covered in caterpillars, which are eating all the leaves. They seem to produce sheets of webs as well. This is a close-up of one caterpillar. C Birch, Dublin This is the box tree caterpillar, which can decimate any species of Buxus – the species used in box hedging, which will grow into a sizeable bush if not clipped. This species of moth was first recorded here in 2017 and has spread rapidly since, to the detriment of box hedges. The cherry ermine moth has also been busy this summer, defoliating species of flowering cherries and covering them with webs too. Whole cherry trees can be affected, as was one in Dublin's Herbert Park, among others. Bee swarms. Photograph supplied by Fred Fitzsimons There were two swarms of bees side by side hanging from a cherry tree in my garden here in Carrickmacross. They appeared at the same time. The big one is 12-15 inches long. Does this mean that two queens left the hive at the same time? They were recovered by a beekeeper. Fred Fitzsimons, Co Monaghan The old resident queen who has overwintered in the hive will leave with a swarm if the hive gets too full, leaving the about-to-hatch new queens to fight to the death for the queenship of the vacated hive. There is only ever one resident queen bee in a hive. The swarm, with the queen inside, can cluster on a convenient tree waiting for its scouts to return with information of a suitable place to take up future residence. Two swarms with two different queens from two different hives coincidentally used this halting site at the same time. The weather was really good in May and bee numbers increased enormously. Coots at UCD. Photograph supplied by M Bell Coots are breeding on the pond in UCD, the most recent one beside the law school. They have at least two young. M Bell, Co Wicklow Build it (or in this case, excavate it) and they will come. This – the most recent UCD lake – was constructed in 2013, replacing an existing car park, and is a haven for biodiversity. Coots prefer shallow water with lots of bottom vegetation for feeding, with reed beds and other waterside plants for nesting cover. The male brings the nesting material (dead water plants) and the female arranges it and lays the eggs. Please submit your nature query, observation, or photo, with a location, via or by email to weekend@
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Science
- Washington Post
Bees are in trouble – and the federal lab researching them could close
LAUREL, Maryland — Sam Droege, sporting worn hiking boots and blue jeans, walked through a lush field of tall grass and poison ivy — a typical commute to the government lab he has run for more than 23 years. The wildlife biologist paused between the two cream-colored sheds that house one of the country's largest bee collections. His floral shirt billowed in the breeze as he pointed out different plants. 'Bastard toadflax,' Droege chuckled. 'Great name.' The meadow was awash with sunlight and birdsong. Butterflies and bees flitted from bud to bud, digging their furry faces into dusty pollen.
News24
21-06-2025
- Science
- News24
How robotic hives and AI are lowering the risk of bee colony collapse
The US has observed a startling uptick in the number of bee colonies dying off since the mid-2000s. Robotic hives are helping cut down losses as they are able to collect data and analyse the health of bees in real time. Some companies are developing vaccines to protect bees against disease. For climate change news and analysis, go to News24 Climate Future. Lifting up the hood of a Beewise hive feels more like you're getting ready to examine the engine of a car than visit with a few thousand pollinators. The unit - dubbed a BeeHome - is an industrial upgrade from the standard wooden beehives, all clad in white metal and solar panels. Inside sits a high-tech scanner and robotic arm powered by artificial intelligence. Roughly 300 000 of these units are in use across the US, scattered across fields of almond, canola, pistachios and other crops that require pollination to grow. It's not exactly the romantic vision of a beehive or beekeeper lodged in the cultural consciousness, but then that's not what matters; keeping bees alive does. And Beewise's units do that dramatically better than the standard hive, providing constant insights on colony health and the ability to provide treatment should it start to falter. The US has observed a startling uptick in the number of die-offs since the mid-2000s as beekeepers have struggled to keep pace with the rise of disease-carrying mites, climate extremes and other stressors that can wipe out colonies. That's endangering billions of dollars in crops from almonds to avocados that rely on the pollinators. This past year saw the worst colony losses on record. Beewise has raised nearly $170 million, including a $50 million Series D earlier this month, and it has a plan to change the industry. AI and robotics are able to replace '90% of what a beekeeper would do in the field,' said Beewise Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Saar Safra. The question is whether beekeepers are willing to switch out what's been tried and true equipment. READ | How did life survive 'Snowball Earth'? In ponds, study suggests Ultimately, the fate of humans is tied to that of bees. Roughly 75% of crops require pollinators, with nuts and fruits particularly dependent. While other species of bees and insects can play a role, they can't replace honeybees. 'There would essentially be no crop without the bees,' said Zac Ellis, the senior director of agronomy at OFI, a global food and ingredient seller. The beehive hasn't seen much technological innovation in 170 years. The Langstroth hive, named after the American reverend who patented it in 1852, is a simple wooden box with frames that can house the queen and her worker bees, larvae and honey. 'Langstroth hives are easy to work with, break down, build up, manipulate frames, make splits' and move, said Priya Chakrabarti Basu, a Washington State University bee researcher. These boxes are the backbone of the agriculture industry and the high-value crops that are heavily reliant on the 2.5 million commercial hives that crisscross the US on semi-trailers. Beekeepers with thousands of hives will travel from as far away as Florida to provide pollination services for California's $3.9 billion almond crop in spring before moving on to other states and crops. 'Almonds are one of the largest pollination events in the world,' said Ellis, who uses Beewise's hives on 30% of the acres he manages. 'Typically, a grower needs two hives per acre,' each with up to 40 000 bees. Pollinating the 10 000 acres of almonds, walnuts and pistachios he oversees requires millions of bees doing the brunt of the pollination work. The number of hives and demand have created a problem, though: Beekeepers are only able to check on their colonies' health every week or two. But a growing number of threats to bees means entire colonies can be wiped out or weakened past the point of no return in just a few days. READ | SA's iconic protea flower relocates as climate warms Toxic pesticides, a changing climate and a sharp uptick in the invasive, disease-transmitting varroa mite since the 1980s have contributed to the rise of what's known as colony collapse disorder. The exact role each of these issues plays in wiping out colonies is unclear, but they are also likely interacting with each other to take a toll. 'You are rarely going to find a bee who is only, for example, stressed by a mite or a bee who's stressed by a disease only or a bee who's only stressed by poor nutrition,' Chakrabarti Basu said. 'It is always a combination.' The impacts, though, are clear. From the 12-month period starting last April, more than 56% of commercial colonies were wiped out, according to the Apiary Inspectors of America. Beekeepers have taken a major economic hit as a result: Between last June and March, colony losses cost beekeepers an estimated $600 million, according to the Honey Bee Health Coalition. Robotic hives While a new hive design alone isn't enough to save bees, Beewise's robotic hives help cut down on losses by providing a near-constant stream of information on colony health in real time - and give beekeepers the ability to respond to issues. Equipped with a camera and a robotic arm, they're able to regularly snap images of the frames inside the BeeHome, which Safra likened to an MRI. The amount of data they capture is staggering. Each frame contains up to 6 000 cells where bees can, among other things, gestate larvae or store honey and pollen. A hive contains up to 15 frames and a BeeHome can hold up to 10 hives, providing thousands of datapoints for Beewise's AI to analyse. While a trained beekeeper can quickly look at a frame and assess its health, AI can do it even faster, as well as take in information on individual bees in the photos. Should AI spot a warning sign, such as a dearth of new larvae or the presence of mites, beekeepers will get an update on an app that a colony requires attention. The company's technology earned it a BloombergNEF Pioneers award earlier this year. 'There's other technologies that we've tried that can give us some of those metrics as well, but it's really a look in the rearview mirror,' Ellis said. 'What really attracted us to Beewise is their ability to not only understand what's happening in that hive, but to actually act on those different metrics.' That includes administering medicine and food as well as opening and closing vents to regulate temperature or protect against pesticide spraying. Safra noted that after two hurricanes hit Florida last year, BeeHomes in the state were still operational while many wooden hives were destroyed. That durability and responsiveness has Ellis convinced on expanding their use. Today, BeeHomes are on 30% of his acres, but he said within three years, they're aiming for 100% coverage. Whether other growers and beekeepers are as keen to make the switch remains to be seen, though, given nearly two centuries of loyalty to the Langstroth design. The startup wants to more than triple the number of BeeHomes in use, reaching 1 million in three years. 'We're in a race against time,' Safra said. 'We might have the best product on planet earth in 15 years, but it doesn't matter' if there aren't any bees left. Ellis likened the hives to a Ritz-Carlton for pollinators. The five-star stay appears to suit bees well: Beewise says its units - which it leases to provide pollination services at what it says are market rates - have seen colony losses of around 8%. That's a major drop compared to the average annual loss rate of more than 40%, according to Apiary Inspectors of America, a group that tracks colony health. 'The asset is the bees, that's the revenue-generating asset,' said Safra, noting that losing more than 40% of those assets makes it hard for businesses to cover labour to maintain hives, trailers to transport them and other fixed costs. Beewise expects to have $100 million in revenue this year, and Safra said it's a year away from profitability. The company declined to share the valuation for its Series D. READ | Austria trials DNA testing to uncover honey fraud It has competition in the bee-saving technology realm. Some companies like Dalan Animal Health are developing vaccines to protect bees against disease. BeeHero and Beeflow (sensing a pattern?) are among those that provide sensors for monitoring health in hives and fields. Both can help improve outcomes at Langstroth hives, but they still require regular beekeeper maintenance. Chakrabarti Basu from Washington State and her colleagues are also working on using AI to detect bees entering hives. 'The more data sets we can give, the better it'll be trained,' she said. 'Pattern recognition - it could be monitoring a brood frame, it could be looking at anything for estimating colony health or any aspect of colony health - I think AI will probably get better at it.'
BBC News
21-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Student beekeeper finds 'bee paradise' in the heart of Oxford
A university student says he has found a "bee paradise" in the heart of Oxford after pursuing his Maxen, 23, from St Albans in Hertfordshire, splits his time between studying cancer science at the University of Oxford and taking care of tens of thousands of bees in two hives at the Great Meadow, owned by Merton took up the unusual hobby earlier this year after spending a couple of years researching beekeeping and "going down a rabbit hole" of watching YouTube videos about Maxen had initially posted on neighbourhood app Nextdoor, asking the Oxfordshire community to put his beehive "in someone's back garden" and was "overwhelmed" with replies. "Sometimes there'd be a really nice story involved - there are a lot of people whose parents had kept bees when they were a child and they now want to reconnect with beekeeping," he explains."[Others] were maybe too old to bee keep themselves but really wanted to get involved."But he changed his mind over potential stings and him visiting someone else's space during "unsociable times".Instead, he reached out to about 20 university colleges and Merton College offered "a beautiful wildflower meadow here that they'd happily house my bees"."Now, I'm in a bee paradise right in the heart of Oxford." 'Bees are like pets' He first became interested in having his own bees about two years ago. "I was supposedly revising for exams, but then I accidentally went on YouTube and ended up going down a three-hour rabbit hole," he says."I was watching Just Alex and he's quite a young guy as well, so I thought 'if he's able to do beekeeping, there's no reason I should kind of wait till I'm older'."Mr Maxen says beekeepers "have a tendency to start thinking of the bees as their pets". "There are somewhere between 10,000 and 60,000 of them... but maybe you could view one hive as one big pet," he explains, comparing it to the emotional support some might get from a dog. Mr Maxen says his friends were initially "understandably surprised" by his hobby."But they've all got super into it and I've had lots of friends coming down to the hives to get involved."He even started naming the queen bees after them, such as Bee-ola after his girlfriend Ceola and Badeline after his friend Maxen says his "dream" is to harvest between 50 to 100 jars of honey, twice a year in spring and autumn."That way I'd be able to give some away for free to my friends and family which is the most important thing for me," he says."But also, it would be very cool to get my own honey to one of these garden markets or markets that we have in Oxford, and be able to sell them to the public as well." You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BreakingNews.ie
20-06-2025
- BreakingNews.ie
People flee in fright as giant ball of bees swarm traffic lights in Limerick City
Limerick City and County Council said it was investigating how best to deal with a swarm of bees that engulfed a light shrouds at a pedestrian-crossing junction in Limerick City Centre on Friday. The bees are understood to have swarmed the pedestrian lights to follow and protect their queen. Advertisement Some have suggested the Queen and her swarm took up residency at the light structure after being possibly discommoded from their hive following a thunder storm overnight. Persons were reported to have fled in fright when the swarm grew into a giant ball of bees Friday afternoon. The swarm is located at the junction of Catherine Street and Roche's Street. A passerby said: 'People were enjoying their coffees and the fine weather outside the cafes on Roche's Street and then everyone was going bananas, because inside on the lights there is a queen bee and the bees are all swarming inside it. Advertisement 'Everyone was avoiding the bees on the street - it was nuts. It's at the junction of Catherine Street and Roche's Street.' 'Once they are swarming around the Queen they won't harm you, so to speak, as they're too engrossed in the Queen, but if you go up to them and start annoying them then you might be in trouble, but that would be your own fault,' the man said. Ireland Man who drove with Lidl manager on car bonnet afte... Read More 'I believe a beekeeper is being called, I literally saw people running away scared and screaming, it looks like something out of a movie. 'A lot of motorists were stopping in traffic looking at it and all their windows were being wound up because the bees could, I suppose, get into your car. A spokesman for Limerick City and County Council said: 'We are assessing the situation to decide what action needs to be taken.' A Council spokesman said the Council had also reported the matter to - an online resource to contact a beekeeper which describes itself as 'Ireland's honeybee rescue network'.
