I wonder if these are closely related to the native 'black bees' or near relatives. There are attempts to get back to them, as although the New Zealand yellow bees are generally more docile and bring in more honey, they don't survive our climate quite so well.
We have had honey bees nesting in a tree in our wood, but after a few years the colony died out. Not sure if there are still some high up that we are unaware of, but we have plenty of bumble bees and also hornets.
the dna stuff might help, the pale and darks abdomen stripes and general form looks very familiar from blossom time
ages ago the tv mentioned a rare butterfly from ca rich land not seen for a very long time and thought lost, then i knew what the huge colony of them living along a ca rich ballast disused railway were, hiding in plain sight needs more folk looking
if anyone can grow a decent tansy habitat, panda beetles could move into it
A friend of ours believed he had seen a large copper butterfly, which was supposed to be extinct. Some years ago, so can't remember if he got a photo. Rather think he did. He has also found some fairly unusual fungi in our woods, some of which are thought to be rare but are probably not, just like your bees, overlooked. I am sure there are a lot of things hiding in plain sight. Dormice were thought to be rare, even in our area, but now the local dormouse society say that if you have a wood or hedge, expect dormice.
the "native" question always looks like a red herring fossil to me, i have no idea what my minister grandpa thought of my childhood fossil collection and knowledge
i know that "smarter than yer average fash" have problems with human ecology
one of my "british native" specimens is a rather nice, if damaged, fossil forelimb bone from what may have been a flying monster. i need to get that looked at
if my geology is right, that was a "native" around the time sw "scotland" made yellowstone seem calm ie about 130 M yrs ago when the whinsill broke through and made quite a mess of the area to the south edge of the hotspot
"native" is often what was here in tribal history, and some tribes have shabby historians
As you say 'native' is always a relative term. In terms of forestry it is usually taken as the time that Britain was separated from the continent by the North Sea, as no more seeds could travel across land. In terms of people, animals, insects and birds etc. it is a bit more difficult as the North Sea is not so much of a barrier.
View Latest Posts