Tony Williams wrote:
In article ,
David Hansen wrote:

I disagree. They are rather too aggressive for my liking, unlike
bees which are welcome.

Hmm.... we have a beekeeper keeping his hives
just down the road. The strain of bee he uses
is a nasty sort of yellow looking thing, very
aggressive when trapped inside the house. We
have been told that he uses these aggressive
bees because they produce the best honey. Not
much comfort to SWMBO, who is liable to go into
a dangerous shock if stung. ((

--
Tony Williams.

I've thought for quite a while that 'honey' bees are getting a less
good-natured. I'm making the effort to encourage some solitary bees
into my garden though, having had them living in my brick chimney wall
in the old place for about a decade and finding them intriguing and
very docile.

I wasn't able to persuade any to use my solitary bee-house to take up
residence in the spring/summer that I had to move out, so didn't hold
out much hope, but this spring (the first in the new place) I'm
delighted to find solitary bees busily nesting in two of the tubes in
the house, so I expect a multiplying population of them when they hatch
out in the coming spring. It was fascinating watching them collect mud
where I'd watered a plant in to take back and stopper the tube with.

Honey bees and wasps I don't like, though I try and tolerate them
(unless indoors - bees are captured and put out, wasps often don't get
afforded the same treatment as they just seem to be hell-bent on coming
back in). Solitary bees I adore. I hear they're better pollinators
than honey bees too, though no idea if that's just rumour.

Velvet