Just As I Was Begining To Worry.

[Simon E.]

Each year we have a population of migrant birds here in the UK, they arrive for the summer after spending the winter in Africa. They include martins and swallows, extraordinary skilful flyers, and best of all, swifts, who live up to their name by performing the most amazing aerobatics through the summer skies.
This year they were very late arriving..held up by weird unseasonal weather apparently. I was scanning the skies for any sign day after day..
Well to cut a long story short they are here. As I write they are wheeling and swooping above the balcony hunting the mayflies that are hatching from the river. My heart soars with them.

[SunWuKong]

Glad to hear this! I’m in the USA and we no longer have honey bees in our yard, in fact I haven’t seen any in years.

[well wisher]

Agreed,it is heartening to see wildlife thrive, especially the non-harmful ones.
Hopefully the honey bees make a return. At least, I do have observed bees in the wild at more isolated park regions in Canada.
Just not near human-crowded places or backyards. Maybe the bees have evolved to be more tame & wiser to avoid humans, for increased chance of survival? Like to avoid getting accidentally stomped on.

In that line of thinking, check out this article, or other related ones on the internet:

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/15- ... again.html
15 Previously Extinct Animals Who Were Rediscovered

Do not underestimate nature, nor the simple will to survive!
That include all of us humans as well.

[Misty]

I know that feeling of heart soaring relief and joy.

In the past two years I've enjoyed watching the return of the bumblebee.

For many years I had not seen even one but after the ban of garden and lawn
pesticides and weed killers, they are now visibly rebounding.

[well wisher]

I know that feeling of heart soaring relief and joy.

In the past two years I've enjoyed watching the return of the bumblebee.

For many years I had not seen even one but after the ban of garden and lawn
pesticides and weed killers, they are now visibly rebounding.

Good points, feels like overuse of pesticide & modern is a key factor in the inadvertent decline of bees and other insects, affecting all the way up of the food chain to animals too.
I also feel too many of our modern society is way too reliant on man-made artificial chemicals (that may not be fully tested or designed well),
causing many health problems and to the ecosystems too.
Other posters on this forum made a valid point that some natural substances and matters and related dependencies might be too complicated for chemical labs to replicate, at least for our modern technologies.
Suggestion: discourage the use of all pesticides, until it can be re-formulated to target only the locusts?

[narhwal90]

The family and I visited some friends who are doing the local small farm thing- so far they are a 0 pesticide operation; chickens in mobile coops, rotating around the fields and a bunch of beehives. The bees are happy there, strong hives and lots of honey, they are constantly sold out. They structure the honey harvesting and maintenance to minimize disturbances to the hives all year round and put in a lot detailed work overwinter- I have the impression that sort of approach is only feasible in small-scale operations. Today I spent a fun few moments watching one of their bees going about his rounds on some flowers.