Wednesday 8 May 2013

Bees And Apple Blossom

We have three apple trees in our garden and right now they are full of the sweetest smelling pink and white blossoms.



Yesterday Hannah noticed how many bees were visiting them and this led to all kinds of spontaneous learning!




 She watched them go from flower to flower collecting pollen, saw tiny honey bees and big fluffy bumble bees, she even saw their pollen sacks on their legs. We talked about pollination, honey and how much we rely on bees for our world food supply. Did you know that worldwide, there are 90 different food plants that depend almost exclusively on the honey bee and that without bees we, in the UK, would lose one third of our diet? 





We found some great websites for more information 

British Bee Keepers Association ,  Bee ID Guide , Save Our Bees and The Bumblebee Conservation Trust

I think we might have to Adopt A Bumblebee !




6 comments:

Lynn said...

Book of the week on R4 this week is about bees, I listened yesterday and today. It was about 9.30am - it's on iplayer. I learned some things, really fascinating! xxx

devonmama said...

I love your apple trees Susie, they make ours look like babies (which they are really, only a few years old!) Such a great way to really *learn* :)
Carly x

Susie said...

Ooh thanks Lynn, I will have a look at that xx

Susie said...

This is our first spring here so the trees were a lovely surprise to us! They are proving really inspiring to Hannah :-)

The Adventurer said...

So pretty to finally be seeing the trees blooming and the sun come out:) Hannah looks very pretty

JessicaFrances said...

Wow the trees are gorgeous! I bet Hannah will remember so much more about the subject learning in that spontaneous way, what could be better than actually watching the bees in action?
Let's hope all this horrible blustery wind isn't blowing away all the blossom right now!!!