The Secret Lives of Garden Bees by Jean Vernon
“What would you say if I informed you that behind the beautiful, fluffy, bug-eyed persona of your backyard bees was a secret world stuffed with single moms, bee imposters, theft and daylight theft, chilly blooded homicide, marauding gangs, pressured surrogacy and even exploding genitalia?”
– Jean Vernon
If that opening paragraph doesn’t seize the creativeness, nothing will. Welcome to The Secret Lives of Garden Bees, a stunning new pure historical past e book by Jean Vernon, wildlife author for the RHS Journal and gardening contributor in The Daily Telegraph.
It’s genuinely such an attention-grabbing e book that I discovered myself not solely making notes for this e book overview however taking tons extra for my very own private data. It’s a terrific e book to have at dwelling, particularly in the intervening time once we’re spending a lot time at dwelling and in our gardens on account of Coronavirus (hyperlink to order at backside of web page.)
Natural History Feast
There’s one thing completely entrancing about backyard bees, from their furry cute-yet-sting-in-the-tail-ness to their seeming potential to defy the legal guidelines of gravity & aerodynamics, all humourously assisted by the smile-inducing Latin identify for bees which tickles me each time; Bombus!
Buff tailed bumble bees pictured in our backyard (photographed by Caroline)
Jean eloquently captures the essence of all there may be to like about bees together with her apparent love of nature, wildlife and gardening in addition to her personal love of bees. She additionally took lots of the images, giving her e book the appear and feel of a romping flight via an English nation backyard from a bee’s-eye view.
Save The Bees – What YOU Can Do!
The Secret Lives of Garden Bees isn’t only a feast for the eyes and mind, it additionally features a helpful part, ‘Meet the Bees,’ on what we are able to all do to encourage the assorted bee species to thrive.
Jean describes bees as ‘the canary within the conservation coalmine’. Since completely different species have differing flower, pollen and shelter wants, she describes every bee, learn how to spot and determine it and what to do to assist it survive in our personal gardens and open areas. For instance, one of many bumblebee species will get caught and dies contained in the flowers of the acanthus plant so reducing again the flowers can save a complete era of bees by protecting the Queen alive.
With 270,00 hectares (2,700 sq. km or 1,042 sq. miles) of personal backyard area within the UK – that’s quite a lot of potential bee habitat – we are able to do wonderful issues for bee conservation if we take notice and add some bee-friendly options to our gardens.
This is a superb part for bee spotters, naturalists and fascinated kids alike.
Photographic Illustration
The textual content in The Secret Lives of Garden Bees is highlighted by an excellent assortment of images of the various species of bee, and the completely different vegetation and environments they inhabit. My overview copy had 4 somewhat blurry images however this was a printing error and never the case with a lot of the printed books.
My explicit favorite is that this very furry-legged fellow who jogs my memory of cowboy in chaps (though Caroline says it seems to be like a tarantula consuming a bee, and wouldn’t go close to it with a barge pole!)
The furry-legged Pantaloon Bee!
Bees – Did You Know?
Jean describes lots of the 276 species of UK bee, of which 24 or 25 are bumble bees. That means there are round 250 species of solitary bees, the altruistic ones we hardly hear about however that are most in want of our assist – 3 species have develop into extinct in latest reminiscence.
What Children will Love
The Secret Lives of Garden Bees is each an grownup studying e book and a kids’s image e book which is able to overlap all ages. I think about kids rising up utilizing the photographs to determine bees earlier than studying the complete textual content as they develop into older and extra within the element.
- Is it a bee? Is it a fly?
Apart from the close-up images and the ‘Meet the Bees’ part talked about above, there’s a significantly glorious unfold evaluating the distinction between bees and flies (since some flies look extremely like bees – and for good cause as you can find out within the e book!) This was an actual hit with Caroline, who studied the variations intimately.
For kids who worry getting stung, there’s a reassuring part on bee stings, confirming a few of the ‘previous wives tales’ we’re by no means positive are true: solely the females sting and infrequently with out warning – they’ll normally stick a leg up (like a hi-five however not!) to ward you off, and honey bees may even bounce off your face to shoo you away, returning to sting provided that you refuse to again away! Kids will discover out which bees die after stinging and study that solitary bees, those most of us see in our gardens, have a sting so weak it may well’t pierce human pores and skin!
Bees, Bees, Bees
There’s tons extra kids will love too – Caroline loved listening to all these little snippets.
Readers will uncover which bees ‘rob’ pollen by making a gap in flowers somewhat than flying into the flower itself.
They will study that some bees desire yellow flowers, some have brief tongues, some have lengthy tongues, some like blueberries, that there are even a bunch of 4 bumblebees which can be ginger, and that male honeybees die after mating.
Other actually helpful and engaging sections in The Secret Lives of Garden Bees embody: –
- learn how to make a bee drinker
- a secure recipe for bee rescue syrup
- when and learn how to contact the Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society (BWARS)
- a season by season bee-friendly backyard information
- citizen science tasks to get entangled with
- notes on the intelligence of vegetation (how did the bee orchid evolve not simply to appear like however to odor like a feminine bee?!)
- bee-friendly vegetation to develop
Jean’s e book is a complete information e book on bees! See beneath to purchase a duplicate, and for extra info on Jean herself, go to her web site.
The solely nit-picky factor I might notice is only a soap-box difficulty of mine; twice within the first 15 pages is the phrase “take into consideration that for a second.” To me it’s a classy web expression that I’m not a fan of, however aside from that, this e book is a delight.
The Secret Lives of Garden Bees is gorgeous to have a look at, fascinating and enjoyable to learn and offers an in depth perception into the lives of those mysterious creatures most of us know so little about. It’s a worthy asset to each outside, wildlife- and garden-loving household bookshelf.
Buy The Secret Lives of Garden Bees
Click on the picture to order your copy from Amazon.
NB Kids of the Wild acquired a duplicate of this e book for the needs of overview. All views and observations are my very own (and Caroline’s, aged 10).
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