The bees fight back

The bees fight back

Asian hornets are still preying on our bees, settling on the landing board and waiting for one to leave or picking off the guard bees who come out to defend the hive – the hornets tap along the landing board to encourage the bees to stick their heads out of the hive, no doubt frustrated that the hornet guards are keeping them out. Many of the bees are too slow to escape as the cooler weather has settled in and as it’s late in the season, the Asian hornets are the new queens getting ready to overwinter – huge beasts, several times the size of the bees.

Passing the hives yesterday, we saw 2 bees acting strangely – investigating further, I was amazed to see a hornet’s head peeking out of the hive…had the feisty bees dragged the hornet’s rear end in to kill her?

(click to enlarge)

Bees fighting asian hornet Bees fighting asian hornet Bees fighting asian hornet
Bees fighting asian hornet Bees fighting asian hornet Bees fighting asian hornet
Bees fighting asian hornet

She certainly looked pretty dead by the time we arrived and within seconds the landing board became alive as angry bees flew out to help.

(click to enlarge)

Bees fighting asian hornet Bees fighting asian hornet

It may have been a small victory but it was great to see the bees fighting back!

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