Bee Colony Collapse Is Overhyped
National Review | June 5, 2015
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/419391/bee-colony-collapse-is-overhyped-shawn-regan
Call off the bee-pocalypse: U.S. honeybee colonies hit a 20-year high
Washington Post | July 23, 2015
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/07/23/call-off-the-bee-pocalypse-u-s-honeybee-colonies-hit-a-20-year-high/
I have noticed a modest increase in bee visits to my property this year after several quiet years.
Mostly I don’t believe environmental disaster predictions. In this case, however, I have noticed a lot fewer honey bees, which I’m not crying about, because I have an allergy to bee venom, and honey bee venom is the strongest, if they are the least aggressive. I don’t think I’ve seen a honey bee in my yard for at least a decade.
However, I see a lot more bumble bees filling the ecological niche, while the populations of wasps, yellow jackets, and carpenter bees, all of which are a nuisance, have not been diminished.
I wish somebody would come and get the bees living in the outside wall of my house. We got rid of them once, when we had siding put on. They came back. Every year, the hive grows huge and splits in two and one half flies off. No problem with bee colonies around here!