My vreugdes en frustrasies

Dis Ekke

Be and let bee

Bees finding nourishment at the street vendor stalls – Port Shepstone Regional Hospital

At the Port Shepstone Regional Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, not only people are cared for and receive nourishment; nature also receives a helping hand when the occasion calls for it.

Outside the gates to the Outpatients Department where we make frequent calls to have old bones,  wheezing lungs and other ailments attended to, enterprising vendors have set up fruit stalls on the sidewalk. They also sell cold drinks, popcorn, cheese-puffs and candy, to everybody’s great delight. They offer a variety of fruits of very good quality and not at all expensive, attractively displayed on makeshift tables. We love shopping there early in the morning.

Earlier this month we noticed that honey bees were helping themselves to the fresh fruits here and there. No stress. Live and let live is the culture here and it had been a very dry season this far, which means that the bees have to forage far and wide for flowers. Then, some of the bees were attracted to the table where candy is sold and soon they were working their way inside the wrappings to feed on the sweets. Everybody found this very sweet (yes, pun intended) and a few lollipops were unwrapped to feed the greedy little workers.

When we visited the hospital again this morning, great was our surprise when we saw that the bees have now been set up with their own buffet table. It was quite apparent that they all knew exactly where to find the sweet stuff and the human buyers were no longer in danger of inadvertently swallowing a bee when biting into a sweet apple or sipping a coke. When someone idly wondered whether bees feeding on candy might, just maybe, be susceptible to diabetes, the general opinion seemed to be that this should not present a problem, as they were at the right place to receive treatment. 😀

 

Follow Dis Ekke

Please find information about the coronavirus here SA Coronavirus South African Resource Portal

18 Comments

  1. What a creative solution to a potential problem! 🙂

  2. Oulike idee!

  3. Sonel

    Ag, is dit nou nie te oulik nie! Dis dierbaar van hulle om vir die bye hul eie tafel met sweeties te gee. Maak mens se hart sommer warm en bly. 😀

    Pragtige foto’s Hester. ♥

  4. So sorg ons vir mekaar!

  5. Excellent idea, but do you think the bees know not to go to the other produce with sweetness in it?

    • Comment by post author

      Well, they seem to have definite preferences – the sweeter the better and they follow the easiest route to get to the source. As you can see on the photos, they stay away from the fruits and the wrapped sweets. They love the peanut crunchies.

  6. Dit wys net weer dat mens saam met die natuur kan leef,sonder om altyd alles dood te maak.Ek het op jou FB geskryf,maar ek kon nie mooi sien wat op die foto was nie…het oppad terug van vakansie,op my foon probeer lees.Jy het seker gedink my kop raas!😳😜

  7. My graad 10 dogter het verlede naweek ‘n taak gedoen met gepaardgaande eksperiment. Sy het 7 tipes suikers geneem en en gis en water bygegooi om te meet wat watter suiker die beste regeer. Die bye het gewen!

  8. Voorheen baie vinnnig getik. Wat ek bedoel het, sy het heuning ook gebruik en dit het die beste reageer met die gis

    • Comment by post author

      O ok. Ek moet sê ek is nie juis ‘n liefhebber van heuning of suiker nie. Ek eet so nou en dan ‘n nigger ball, maar andersins het ek nie ‘n soet tand nie. Mense sê die kleur en die smaak van heuning verskil na aanleiding van dit wat die bye eet (of is dit drink?). Dis egter baie interessant om so ‘n klomp bye so hard te sien werk om kos te versamel.

  9. I love this post & those super pics. Yes, seeing is beelieving. 😀

  10. Nice!!

  11. Dankie… ek dink ek sal ‘n by vir more gebruik! 😉