TED: Bees talk

[Neils]

it's a few years old, and I'm posting without comment for now, about either TED as an organisation or the talk itself, but I thought it was interesting.

http://www.ted.com/talks/dennis_vane..._for_bees.html

[Neils]

And to add my musings. The vid's a 16 minute talk by Dennis van Engelsdorp back in 2008. He was the State Apiarist for Pennsylvania State Department of Agriculture (now appears to be at Maryland University) and involved in research into CCD.

It's a US centric talk in some respects but I thought interesting non the less. I'm sure some will be disappointed that he doesn't directly tub thump about certain types of pesticides (neither are pesticides generally completely dismissed) as being the direct cause of CCDbut I felt it an interesting talk (and only 16 minutes).

[Jon]

Glad to hear him deride lawns as being sterile deserts.
Would not have one about me.
12 years in the current house and still no sign of a lawnmower.
Plenty of fruit trees and fruit bushes out the back.

[Neils]

ours is similar, lots of insect friendly plants, but not seen any dragonflies this year, have had a few of big green shiny beetles though, still got no idea what they are.

[marion.orca]

Could it be a Green Tiger Beetle [ approx length 14mm ] Either that or a new Volkswagen.

[Neils]

It's the right colour Marion, but I think the VW is closer to the shape of them

[chris]

Sounds to me like the insect I used to find on my tomatoes when I lived down on the coast. Everyone called it a "punaise", but I can't find an accurate English translation. It's main form of defense is to stink to high heaven when crushed (punais from latin putere-stink and naus-nose). I don't recommend biting into a tomato unless you've brushed them off

[Neils]

I think they might be dock leaf beetles but they're supposed to like foliage (hence the name I guess) and these seem to prefer a plant that is not very leafy.

[chris]

a cetonia? such as cetonia aeruginosa? They seem to prefer flowers, and sometimes sap or ripe fruit.

[marion.orca]

Any chance of a photo ? - I'm intrigued now.