Bees!

I love bees, as you might guess! Today Jon and I went along to the Reading Beekeepers open hive event, and got to have a poke around - us possessing hives, but as yet no bees. It was brilliant!

I am utterly fascinated by bee behaviour, and suspect this may become something of an obsession in my life. The owner of said bees has many hives in their garden, and I'm pretty sure there was some inter-hive bullying going on. Bees 'talk' to each other by nuzzling each other and waggling their antennae around, but I'm sure saw a bee having its legs pulled by another bee - maybe it was some sort of helpful cleaning behaviour. Only time, experience and research will tell!

The entrance to a hive is hypnotic. I videoed one for a short while, but could watch this for a whole lot longer - I love watching all the different coloured pollens arriving and wondering where they've been. The way bees organise themselves to get in and out is amazing...

An inspirational day!