Bee Rescue: The Day That I Saved a Bumblebee.

Wandering homewards after a visit to the Isle of Eels last week I spotted a bumblebee in distress, stranded on a busy pavement. For a moment I was worried about what other passers by may think of me on my hands and knees in the middle of a busy thoroughfare. Should I stop and help?

Yes, of course I should.

I looked around for something sturdy upon which to usher the stricken bombus, and spotted a rhododendron bush with thick green leaves beckoning me from across the road. There was some windfall scattered on the floor and so I quickly grabbed one of these, fearing that if I left the bee much longer a heedless heel would crush my newfound charge.

The poor fluffy blighter was motionless, but with a few very gentle pushes of encouragement I managed to usher my new friend onto the leaf, and I slowly lifted it up for a closer inspection. As I thought, it was not in great shape. Almost completely still, and disinterested by what must have been the face the size of a giant peering closely at it.

This was the moment when I realised that I had absolutely no idea what to do next. I was only a few minutes from home, and thought that perhaps a sugar water solution may be just the tonic to revive the wee bumble, and so we set off. But as we made our way to HQ, I began to worry about whether the the exhausted little explorer would be able to find its way home from a new starting point if it had been disorientated on the journey to get there. All this effort would have been for naught.

It was at that moment that I noticed a bush of wildflowers a little further ahead, with vibrant mauve petals that were swaying in the breeze. To my delight I saw that the flowers were covered in busy bumblebees. An idea began to form in my mind and I quickened my pace, fighting the urge to run as a sense of excitement began to grow. Upon reaching the bush I lifted the leaf stretcher towards one of the flower-heads and…nothing. The bumblebee didn’t move. I tried again, and again, but to no avail.

Then, as I looked closer I noticed a difference in the flowers, The one that I had been offering my bee to had stamens that looked rather rumpled and messy, and I wondered if this may be because they had already been raided. I looked at other flowers and saw some where the stamens were tightly packed together in a little ball. I nervously lifted the bee toward one of these…and it shot into the flower faster than a buttered bullet. It was a remarkable turnaround for something so small that had been at death’s door just moments before. I stood watching as the bee did its business, and then moved to another flower, and then another, and eventually buzzed off.

You probably know that bees are in danger and what this means for our planet, so I don’t need to go into all of that. But I know for sure that even if they were not, I would have done exactly the same thing.