tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290723885428192841.post7786909761535904570..comments2024-03-29T07:11:23.536+00:00Comments on BSBI News & Views: The Military Orchid and the BumblebeeLouise Marsh, BSBIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07853015015164789727noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290723885428192841.post-9632165224638168832015-01-20T17:15:58.164+00:002015-01-20T17:15:58.164+00:00Hi Martin,
Thank you very much for your comment. ...Hi Martin,<br /><br />Thank you very much for your comment. It is interesting isn't it! I wish we knew for sure. At least it gives an area for further research. I wouldn't have guessed that bumblebees would have been the main pollinators in favour of smaller species but like you say maybe things are changing. It would certainly be interesting to see what they do produce if not nectar.<br /><br />RyanRyan Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08164366337942904679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290723885428192841.post-1657942645668824462015-01-07T19:09:12.075+00:002015-01-07T19:09:12.075+00:00Interesting! In 2001 I was involved with a project...Interesting! In 2001 I was involved with a project led by the late Bill Havers to get volunteers looking out for potential Military Orchid pollinators at Homefield Wood, with a rota of people watching the flowers for many hours over several days. As described above, at that time bumblebees seemed not to be playing a significant role, and our summary at the time was:<br />"Following this year’s observations it seems clear that a range of solitary bee species, as well as the honey bee Apis mellifera, have the potential to pollinate O. militaris. Bumblebees are sometimes attracted to the flowers, but they seem to collect pollinia infrequently, and when they do the pollinia can become attached to various parts of their body, making them less likely to go on to successfully pollinate another flower. In contrast, the honey bees and solitary bees have consistently had pollinia positioned towards the front of the head, on or near the clypeus, where they appear to be ideally placed to effect subsequent pollination."<br /><br />So it is surprising that just a single hour of flower-watching produced so much evidence of bumblebee activity. I wonder if bee behaviour has changed, or whether the range of flower visitors is just broader than we assumed and that the ones seen vary from year to year?<br /><br />The other mystery is that as far as I know Military Orchid is believed not to produce nectar, so why do insects visit it regularly? Maybe it produces some other substance that they need.Martin Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02548201025682845702noreply@blogger.com