Me and bee 38
| 18:10 UK time, Wednesday, 7 May 2008
I was still recovering from the red kite shoot in Mid Wales and at around 10.00am I surface bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to take on the day. Well, it was a rest day after all.
I headed for the shower, but was distracted by the beeping downstairs of the answer-phone. So in my undies with full-on bed hair I listened to the message. Laverne is ill, can you help? We need you in Caerphilly by 11.30am.
I grabbed clothes - trousers with a stained pocket. Doh! Too late - I was on my way.
I found the farm where we were filming and wheel-span to a parking space - burning much rubber (I'm 45, I should know better).
Soon it became clear. Bees were the order of the day and at that point I noticed my grabbed t-shirt which featured Nektar (70' Rock band, which features a picture of a human body with the head of a bee & I didn't know a thing about the day's tasks.) Spooky!
Now, bees and me have previous. When I was around 12 years old, some of my friends and me built a small stone den in the garden. We'd go into the fields and collect as many bees and wasps as we could find. Then two volunteers would enter the den - we'd shake up the bees and wasps before pouring them all inside. The first person to leave the den lost. This game was not very popular and the craze quickly died out - I'm so ashamed :0(
Anyway, after fighting to get into my bee suit I found the hive and its contents so cool. I'm not afraid of bees and wasps but Julie and Lloyd seemed a little unsure - so I think they did really well.
Tagging and weighing bumble bees was amazing - bee 38 was tagged by me. All I then had to do was return it to the hive - but bee 38 escaped on camera - more doh!
Of course after the cameras stopped rolling I caught and returned bee 38 safely with a full load of pollen to the hive.
But I'm comfortable with being a dork : 0 ). This was a great day.
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