Cradley WI February meeting Th ere’s an a dage that says t he be st thin gs a re wo rth w aiting for – and Cradley WI had waite d 2 y ears for th is meeting . So I’ll let you w ait a little l onge r bef ore I tell yo u ab out th e ma in eve nt! Sue, our Pre side nt, sta rted the meetin g by u pda ting us on a ctivit ies taking p lace including our famou s Pa ncake Lunch on Shrove Tuesday, (see the adve rt else whe re an d we have only 10 pl aces still availa ble at the ti me of wr iting). We are also p lann ing a half day tr ainin g eve nt, to be ru n by the Red Cr oss, entitle d Bystanders can be Lifesaver s to show us how to use a de fibril lator, how to do CPR and to as sist if someone is choking. Some pla ces w ill be ope n to villager s so p lease look out fo r no tices. We a lso discus sed o ur options for a char ity to suppo rt wi th our fund raisi ng du ring o ur n ext WI year. Pla nter s for Pollin ator s, aiming to put 110 plan ters a roun d the villag e, is a major p rojec t for us this year and it is no w well underway, w ith gr eat h elp fr om C radl ey Wi ld. Ch ildre n in the sc hool have alrea dy st arted plan ting s eeds , arrangemen ts have be en m ade to col lect co mpost an d 12 April has b een set as ide fo r pa rticip ants (that c ould be you!) to collec t thei r see ds, pl ug pl ants a nd a wood en p lante r lab el wit h you r num ber. Th ere a re fly ers a nd no tices to let you k now h ow to get i nvolv ed. And finally, although it was c old a nd fr osty o utsid e, we talke d abo ut possibl e loca tions for a summer trip fo r members. Te a an d coff ee we re s erved but it didn’t take long as we we re all keen to move on to th e m ain ev ent… Tw o ye ars a go, o ur re siden t api cultur ist, Di, told us all abou t her pass ion fo r be ekeeping. At th at time we were all le ft wanting to kn ow more – and there was a lot more to kn ow! Di began, h owe ver, with bad n ews. Last y ear, 2024, was a disastr ous y ear f or be es (a nd a ll pol linato rs) fo r the prod uctio n of h oney; cool and wet w eathe r sto ps the bee s from flyi ng an d an y hon ey pr oduc ed is then need ed to feed the co lony in the hive . The re w as ev en wo rse n ews: rece nt storms h ad d estroyed three of Di’ s six h ives. But she is not d espo nden t, she colle cted the be es w ax fro m th e hive s and will aim to bui ld up new hives with swarm s la ter in the y ear. Di spent some time telli ng us abou t her first e ncou nter with b eeke epin g wh en sh e wa s give n a ‘s tarte r pack’ to a ttract red mason b ees. Altho ugh we we re n ot familiar with t his typ e of bee it turns out th ey a re ex tremely co mmon an d are wonderful pollinators, but not to be confused with maso nry b ees. Red maso n be es have re ddis h fur on the ir ba ck, the y rar ely st ing an d, as they are s olitary bee s, the y wil l often lay th eir e ggs in bee hote ls. Di show ed us how we could m ake o ur own ‘h otel’ q uite easily – the re m ay be quit e a fe w in th e vil lage b efor e too long! With our Plan ters for Pollina tors proje ct in mind , we ta lked abou t plan ts tha t bee s par ticula rly like. Lavend er, popp ies an d cra nesbill ger aniums a re gr eat fl ower ing p lants and th eir p refe rred colou rs ar e blu e, pu rple and v iolet follow ed by wh ite an d yel low. Bee s cannot se e re d flow ers, t hey s ee the m as black, so i t’s no t an i deal colou r to a ttract them. An d, int erest ingly, the flowe rs of azale as an d rh odod endr ons a re p oison ous to bee s. We also lear nt ho w devasta ting s ome pesticides can be an d that the Asian horn et can decimate a wh ole h ive. A ny s ightin gs of the hornet must be reporte d – th ey ar e large, w ith a single ora nge s egment in their bod y and yello w leg s. Th ey ar e, unfortun ately, very fon d of ivy and may nest in he dges . Pollina ting is a tiri ng job for any in sect, that’s why we o ften se e be es ap pare ntly r estin g on t he gr ound . Th e bes t way to help them is to p lace a sma ll spo nge in a dish a nd soak it w ith sugar wate r. Th ey’r e not keen on ge tting their feet wet while hav ing a drink but t hey c an ge t a dr ink o ut of t he sp onge! And her e’s a quiz ques tion fo r you: Wh at pe rcent age of the world’s bumble bee s live in the UK? It was a fascinating talk a nd th ere w ere q uite a few ques tions – we could hav e gon e on for ag es b ut it w as time to leave. Let’s hope we have anothe r bee keep ing i nstalment some time in th e futu re. Look out for o ur posters abo ut futu re ev ents that w ill be plac ed on notic e boa rds, and i t’s time to g et yo ur pl anter s rea dy! Our n ext meetin g is o ur Annua l Mee ting on Thursd ay 6 t h Ma rch at 7.30. Oh , yes – would you bel ieve it? We hav e 10% of th e wor ld’s bumb le be es. T hat’ s a lot of bumble bee s - we nee d to look after the m. For more inf orma tion pleas e con tact: Cradley_WI@herefordshirewi.org.uk Pam Moss, Pr ess Officer Sue Humphreys, President Lesley Gregory, Correspondence Secr etary