For a brief interval on Sunday afternoon, I was convinced that there was something terribly wrong with the bumblebees on the Two Hundred Acre Wood in Lanark, that they had succumbed to a mysterious lunatic ailment of some sort. Many were behaving erratically, rolling around and staggering, buzzing happily but uncharacteristically, laying on their backs among the wildflowers and waving their antennae and legs in the air. Their flight patterns were odd to say the least, and they were easily distracted. There was little or no visible foraging going on.
As it turns out, my striped friends "had a buzz on" (pardon the pun). They were thoroughly intoxicated by the abundance all around them and the astonishing fragrances on offer, and they were also inebriated from the fermented nectars they had been imbibing earlier in the day. Bumblebees sometimes do this in the summer, but it appears that this year, my wildflowers are dishing out (or rather pouring) some
very potent stuff.
For a brief interval on Sunday afternoon, I was convinced that there was something terribly wrong with the bumblebees on the Two Hundred Acre Wood in Lanark, that they had succumbed to a mysterious lunatic ailment of some sort. Many were behaving erratically, rolling around and staggering, buzzing happily but uncharacteristically, laying on their backs among the wildflowers and waving their antennae and legs in the air. Their flight patterns were odd to say the least, and they were easily distracted. There was little or no visible foraging going on.
As it turns out, my striped friends "had a buzz on" (pardon the pun). They were thoroughly intoxicated by the abundance all around them and the astonishing fragrances on offer, and they were also inebriated from the fermented nectars they had been imbibing earlier in the day. Bumblebees sometimes do this in the summer, but it appears that this year, my wildflowers are dishing out (or rather pouring) some very potent stuff.
4 comments:
I think it has the flu because it was upchucking my comments and photos!
Oh what a lovely experience. Thank you for sharing it. It's very joyful!
Cate- Thanks for this info! Now I know that my bumblebees are blissful not ailing and I'm very tickled. Hope you're feeling better. Susan
What a lovely story! I hope bees don't get hangovers. When we had pyracantha in front of our house, robins used to come in spring to eat the fermented berries. We'd come out in the morning to twenty or thirty them flopping around in the driveway. These days, it's very rare to see robins in our neighbourhood.
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