What Next?
On the tiles on the veranda, at my feet. A perfectly normal looking female blue banded bee, wings working fine. I thought. It’s not uncommon for new born BBB’s to falter at first flight.
*Click on the pictures for a proper look … and click again
After I gave her a finger to climb on she wandered about until she tried to fit into the nook between my fingers. It seemed she just wanted to go back to sleep.
But not for long. Soon she was exploring again. This time she thought it a good idea to grip my finger between her mandibles and that way go to sleep – how they do it.
But sleep wasn’t on the agenda, not really. So I introduced her to the zinnia I have growing in the garden, and she took to it like a duck to water. No, no, like a bee to a flower.
After she had her fill of the zinnia I introduced her to the butterfly bush and she couldn’t help herself, wandering all about the wonderful scent, tasting the little pots of nectar as she went.
Yum … doesn’t she look satisfied. Just taking a break from her first born encounter with the beautiful nature of the flowers she feeds on, and that went to nourishing her into existence.
And then she’d had enough, time to sleep at last. But not quite getting the knack of it yet, though instinctively she knew to grip something thin enough she could lock onto for the coming night.
Getting there, almost done … Time to sleep, to rest, to rise again in the morning and go to work in the garden and do what she was designed for, intelligently.
Sun fading now, got a good grip on the edge of the butterfly bush leaf. All the better to wake in the morning, close to breakfast and a new day, a new life. New born BBB.
The first blue banded bee born at my new place, that I know of, landed at my feet late the other day. It didn’t take to the air immediately so I gave it a finger to climb on, thinking it might do better from a height.
It didn’t … BBB’s are solitary creatures, not hive minded like the EU honey bee. The biggest difference it makes to me and you, if we were to pick one up, is EU bee’s instinctive tendency to sting, though it will surely die.
The individual EU honey bee, being just a number in a vast hive of like minded bees, is expendable. Meaning the hive doesn’t mind losing it in apparent defense of the realm, to sting and die.
That’s what a EU honey does after it stings. It dies, because the stinger being barbed gets left behind when the bee is swatted away and a gaping wound is made where the stinger was.
It’s a sacrifice the EU honey bee hive easily makes, it’s not an individual bee’s choice. The BBB on the other hand has no hive to fall back on, he or she is alone in this world.
And being alone requires more responsibility for the natural creatures, instinctively. More intelligently responsive, you could say.
There’s no trouble in nature. The natural creatures just get on with being what they are without the need to reflect on it.
The trouble comes when we emotionalise the instinctive and reflect on it so that it becomes something else.
Intelligently responsive or instinctively defensive. Hmmm …
© Mark Berkery … Click on those pictures for a closer look … and click again.
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Nature's Place 
Beautiful sequence, showing such understanding and empathy. I’m in awe of nature and of your skills.
Thanks Sheila.
Beautiful°
One of the pics is a special one of its own: It shows a face. That pic ist underwritten with Yum.
Wild bees often have such a face. A thick whitebanded bee in Gran Canaria has a similiar face.
Thanks Gerhard.
That’s a really special experience and thank you for sharing so we too could be part of the experience. The photos are incredible, they capture the expression of a new born perfectly
Thanks Katie. Endeavoring to record a little piece of the good in this place. :-)
A day in the life…of you and the bee. Both fascinating characters.
Thanks Lyleand. Appreciated.
She’s a pretty little thing, Mark! Really enjoyed this post! :)
She is … Thanks Laura.
Enjoyed the story & photos !🌱
Thanks Eco.
Awesome shots – such sharp detail
Thanks THB.
A bee-autiful story Mark, and your photos do both story and new-born bee justice.
Thanks Rose. Sometimes it all comes together. :-)