Next week, we’re looking at temperatures as high as 30 degrees – the perfect weather for barbecues! And while the sounds of sausages sizzling and drinks clinking bring a smile to our faces, the faint and ominous sound of buzzing can do the opposite.
When you raise the alarm of a bee at a barbecue, panic spreads quickly. People don’t know whether to run or stay still, abandon their fizzy drink or just retreat indoors and give up completely. So what should you do?
In celebration of World Bee Day, we spoke to Adam Hart, professor of conservation ecology at the University of Gloucestershire and a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, to find out the best way to keep rogue bees at bay when barbecuing (without hurting them).
The importance of bees
Before we start, it’s worth flagging that bees form an essential part of our ecosystem, so you shouldn’t kill them – even if they become a nuisance at your BBQ. The same goes for wasps, which bees are often mistaken for. According to Adam: ‘In my experience, in this early part of the summer, it’s often honeybees that are the problem, and usually wasps get the blame. In reality, wasps tend not to become really active until a bit later in the year.’ Check out how to get rid of wasps, if you’re looking to keep these insects at bay. And rather than hurting the honeybees, you can use the tips below to deter them:
1. Cover sweet food and drinks
First, there’s the most obvious attraction at the barbecue. Sweet food and drinks are a magnet for a nearby honeybee; it’s always on the lookout for a source of sugar to consume for energy, as well as to convert into honey once it’s back at the hive. It would usually get sugar from the nectar in flowers. But if there’s a handy fizzy drink just sitting in the open, you can’t really blame the bee for taking advantage.
Considering this, Adam’s top tip is to cover over any sugary foods and drinks: ‘The best way to avoid problems is to make sure sweet foods and drinks are covered if you’re eating outside. That prevents foraging bees from finding the food and then returning to the hive and “telling” the other bees where it is, using their famous waggle dance. If you can stop that recruitment process happening in the first place, it’s a very effective way of reducing the number of bees around you. Sometimes that’s easier said than done, of course, but it’s definitely worth trying.’
You can try covering any sweet treats with Mesh Pop-Up Food Covers for an added layer of protection, or sealed food containers are even better. Failing that, limit when you serve sweet items so the time they spend out in the open is restricted. Fizzy drinks can be served in reusable travel cups, and the straw sealed with a straw cover to prevent curious bees.
2. Keep doors and windows closed
Keeping doors and windows closed sounds like obvious advice, but it’s easy to forget when you’re having one of the best barbecues. Each honeybee flies up to a mile in its hunt for sugar, and if there happens to be an open window en route, it’s easy for a curious bee to end up trapped in your home.
Adam continues: ‘I’d also be careful when moving in and out of the house during warmer weather. If doors are constantly being opened and closed, it’s a very easy way for bees and other insects to end up indoors, where they can become quite annoying.’
If your doors and windows are often left open, a fly screen can act as a final barrier for anything buzzing around. At night, it’s also worth keeping the lights switched off indoors and around the barbecue, to avoid attracting insects.
If a honeybee should find its way into your home, and you feel comfortable doing so, you can wait until it lands, then gently trap it under a glass and slide a bit of card beneath to release it back outdoors. Failing that, seal off the room (with the lights off) and leave the window open until it finds its own way back out. If it has landed and isn’t moving much, it may be exhausted and need a spoonful of sugar water placed nearby to help it get its energy back.
3. Avoid sudden movements and stay calm
Finally, Adam answers the age-old question on whether it’s better to move or stay still, should you spot a bee. Turns out, a calm, relaxed reaction is best. According to Adam: ‘The old advice about not flapping around when bees are buzzing near you is actually good advice. It’s often easier said than done, but staying calm really is the best approach. They’re not trying to sting you – they’re usually just looking for food.’
Flapping at the bee not only risks harming it; it makes it more likely to sting you as it perceives you as a threat. It might even accidentally sting you as your hand makes contact. So, moving away slowly and calmly is best. If you do get stung by a bee, Adam says: ‘There are lots of preparations available on the market, but actually a little bicarbonate of soda mixed with water and applied to the sting site can sometimes help.
‘People often panic about removing the sting very quickly because they think it’s continuously injecting venom. In reality, unless you remove it almost instantly – within a fraction of a second – most of the venom will already have been delivered. The bigger issue is that the sting releases an alarm pheromone, which can attract other bees to the area. So if you are stung and there are lots of bees around, the best thing to do is move calmly away from the area. The bees are then much less likely to follow you.’
To reiterate Adam’s final message: keep calm and avoid swatting at bees, otherwise more fuzzy guests might attend the BBQ!
