When you find a tired bee it’s always good to have a plan of action. These days I keep a BeeVive bee revival kit on my key chain so I always have a special phial of sugar syrup handy. I’ve used it so many times now to save countless tired bees that it is my go to bee rescue remedy. I was so impressed by the quality of these little bee revival kits that I decided to offer them for sale in my shop. They make fantastic gifts so do have a look.

The first batch I sold at a pollinator festival and I was fascinated and heartened to see that it was mostly youngsters and Millenials that wanted them. So now I know there are lots of bee friendly youngsters looking out for our bees.

You don’t have to have a BeeVive to save a bee, but it does make things much easier. We rescued this lovely bumblebee at Yeo Valley organic gardens while on a bee safari. The image was kindly loaned by Richard Rickitt.

If you haven’t got a BeeVive bee revival kit then look around for a nectar rich flower and try and place the bee there to get a nectar fix, but do remember that insects have different shaped mouth parts and they can’t all feed from the same flowers.

Failing that you can make your own sugar syrup one part warm (tepid) water to one part white sugar and offer that instead. Don’t use brown sugar, they can’t digest it and don’t use honey as it can contain spores or pathogens that might make the bee sick. Do remember that sometimes they are too poorly, old or injured to revive, so don’t be disappointed if you fail.

But there is nothing like that feeling when a bee feeds on your rescue remedy and then flies off to continue their journey. It’s magic.