Bees for bluebells
I don't know if you have noticed but there are very few bees in the forest visiting bluebells. I found this entry from jenkinsbrynmair
on this website www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-15030.html
"The following is taken from PLANTS AND BEEKEEPING an account of those plants, wild and cultivated, of value to the hive bee, and for honey production in the British Isles by F.N. Howes, D.Sc. (1945)
" from time to time the question has been raised as to whether the common bluebelll, so abundant in many parts of the country, is a useful bee plant. The corolla or 'flower tube' is obviously too long for the honey bee to collect nectar in the ordinary way, but there seems to be some evidence that it is able to get at the nectar from the side of the flower near the base*. The pollen , which is a very pale shade of blue, is also collected. Some observers testify to having seen bluebells being very freely worked by bees (bee world 1928, p148) but this does not appear to be general..
Many of the cultivated Scillas, which have smaller flowers than the wild bluebell, are well worked for nectar and pollen in the early spring, and are valuable to the beekeeper where they are much planted"
*W Herrod Hempstall Beekeeping new and old Vols 1 (1930) and 2 (1937)" I therefore feel extra privileged to have seen this bee in the forest near Alton, Hampshire.
Bees for bluebells
I don't know if you have noticed but there are very few bees in the forest visiting bluebells. I found this entry from jenkinsbrynmair
on this website www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-15030.html
"The following is taken from PLANTS AND BEEKEEPING an account of those plants, wild and cultivated, of value to the hive bee, and for honey production in the British Isles by F.N. Howes, D.Sc. (1945)
" from time to time the question has been raised as to whether the common bluebelll, so abundant in many parts of the country, is a useful bee plant. The corolla or 'flower tube' is obviously too long for the honey bee to collect nectar in the ordinary way, but there seems to be some evidence that it is able to get at the nectar from the side of the flower near the base*. The pollen , which is a very pale shade of blue, is also collected. Some observers testify to having seen bluebells being very freely worked by bees (bee world 1928, p148) but this does not appear to be general..
Many of the cultivated Scillas, which have smaller flowers than the wild bluebell, are well worked for nectar and pollen in the early spring, and are valuable to the beekeeper where they are much planted"
*W Herrod Hempstall Beekeeping new and old Vols 1 (1930) and 2 (1937)" I therefore feel extra privileged to have seen this bee in the forest near Alton, Hampshire.