Uncovered a bees nest

today whilst pulling back the ivy and brambles from the old existing fence I uncovered the entrance to a bees nest in the ground
The first thing I do is call the council as bees are protected aren't they? They forward all my details to environmental health and say they don't know when they'll be in touch
So undeterred I look up on the Internet, beekeeper groups, find the national association on my mobile and look up a local group. Most numbers ring out but one was answered and she was round in a jiffy
She said they're either small bumble bees or ground bees and she'll be around later on today to whisk the nest away (which we'll all - her included, have to dig out)
I'm putting this on here as the nest looked to all intents and purposes like a rat / mouse hole, until I stopped and looked at it for a good 5-10 minutes and a bee climbed inside

Watch what your doing in the garden as these little critters make their homes in the most unlikely spots

The site I contacted was: www.bbka.org.uk

 

Personally, I would have kept the bees in my own garden and let them enrich my plants I consider them a gardeners friend

Interesting about the hole though, thank you

 

They would've stayed put if there home wasn't going to be A in the way of the new fence and B In danger of being rotavated when we get that far
I adore bees even from an early age I used to 'rescue' a fallen / knackered bee with flowers, now sugar syrup and flowers, fortunately they're only moving up the road as that's where the beekeepers live. It really surprised me how small the nest was, I was expecting cells, honeycombs and all the rest of it, they had tiny pods within a small rootball

 

Not if you're allergic to their stings they ain't!

 

@Sixtie7 we have a bees nest in our lawn, they seem to come back year after year. They don't cause us any problems & as we aren't doing any lawn work I just let them be. Great to have aren't they, I hope yours return after you have got the fence sorted out .

 

True enough.

As a child, we used to catch bees in jam jars to get a closer look at them (it was also a childish 'dare' to see who was brave enough to get one into the jar ) never stung once (and to be fair, that must have been some provocation for a bee).

Visited a very busy market one year to see what all the hype was about. Minding my own business I was stung in the neck ... by a wasp. Thankfully, no allergic reaction for me

 

I totally agree - the chances of being stung by a bee are very minute. But a bee sting sends my heart loopy so I don't encourage them.

I have no reaction to wasp stings either.

 

You are so lucky @longk if I'm stung by a wasp I blow up like a ballon ! Several years ago I was stung on the ankle I couldnt even put my shoe on , I could only wear a flip flop! I don't think I've ever been stung by a bee.

 

Not sure - think that I would rather blow up like a balloon than wish that I hadn't lost my Epipen

 

As a sideline, my greenhouse is full of leaf cutter bees.
They wander in and out the greenhouse vents with circles of leaf that have cut from the garden plants.
They then go into the drainage holes of my cactus pots and create cells for their larvae.

Fascinating, but a pain at the same time.