Today is United Nations World Bee Day, as I discovered when I read a brilliant poem, 'The Last Bee', by Brian Bilston on Twitter (you might have to click here and scroll down slowly to find it).
My own bee poem, 'Leaf-cutter bee', was published in last month's edition of Reach Poetry (IDP); and, as it happens, the very recent telltale signs of bare discs in our ornamental cherry suggest that 'our' bees are back.
We bought a cylindrical bee-house some years ago, and hung it on the Acer negundo. Nothing happened the next year or the year after. This year, now that the bee-house is rusty and rather decrepit, it seems it has come into its own at last ... 🐝🐝🐝
My understanding from a kind enthusiast on iSpot is that this is a Red Mason Bee (Osmia bicornis).
