After walking the dogs around the paddock this morning I went back to top up the sheep's two water buckets. There's no running water in the field so this is the only way they can get a supply. It doesn't take long, I just turn on the hosepipe to the polytunnel and carry over two watering cans full of fresh water.
I always check before I pour into the buckets, indeed I check the buckets every time we walk past them, for any little insects trying not to drown. Usually I put a stick or a rock in every bucket or any standing water so that anything that falls in can climb out but we can't do it in the sheep's buckets or they'll poke an eye out or not drink out of the bucket at all. Today there was a bee, floating totally still on the surface of the water. I found a flat stone and carefully lifted him out. Leaving him on the warm stone I watched for a minute and sure enough he started to move around.
Clever little bee had expended as little energy as possible and floated calmly on the surface for I don't know how long. I realised he would be short of energy even though he had been clever enough to stay so still in the water, so I went over to a bush that was full of blossom and pulled off a sprig.
Sure enough after a few minutes of drying in the weak morning sunshine the bee started to feel around inside the flowers. I don't know how much nourishment it would have got from a bit of blossom but it seemed to help.
I left Mr Bee to his own devices and went back to fetching water for the chickens having replenished the sheep's buckets.
It's always nice to start the day saving a life.
How very thoughtful! Bees are precious these days, so your action was all the more commendable.
ReplyDelete"If I can help somebody as I go along!" That's your good deed for the day done. I saved a spider this morning that was scurrying along the floor whilst I was hoovering. I hoovered around him/her and let him go on his way.
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A very good deed done! I need to put some fine mash over our water butt to prevent the same thing. I try to rescue everything! People think I'm mad. I won't even move flower pots if there's a beetle family living underneath.
ReplyDeleteI always try to move spiders outside. They get re-homed quite regularly as both OH and son are both scared wit-less by them and have even woken me in the middle of the night to remove them.
ReplyDeleteYay! We need all the bees we can get. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to see I am not the only one who does things like this :-}. Am I mad because when I move a pot which has worms settled underneath it the worms get moved somewhere safe?
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks for helping the bee.
ReplyDeleteSuch a sweet story. I liked it so much that I read it to my husband. He's sitting here smiling.
ReplyDeleteNice. Is there a Mother Nature award? We might need to nominate you for looking after all the creatures.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely post. glad the bee got his strength back. A friend of mine keeps a little bottle of icing sugar and water at her allotment and will put a couple of drops next to any bee she finds struggling.
ReplyDeleteA fellow bee rescuer, although I think your rescue was probably more successful than mine
ReplyDeleteWhat a compassionate thing to do.
ReplyDeleteBees so need help! Like you, I try to rescue them, put them outside if they get in the house - we have a bee house which is now well used.
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