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Your bee guide for the summer
(thelemmy.club)
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this post was submitted on 30 May 2026
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Hornets are cool though! They eat very specific pests that nothing else will kill- flies, horse flies, flesh flies, and they catchem mid air, also bark beetles and some other nasty fuckers. They're also pollinators, and did you know they're actually way chiller than honey bees? Honey bees be straight up gangbangers in comparison, they unruly. In most of Europe they're a protected species and you can be fined like A LOT if you get caught killing one. You'll obviously never be caught but still.
Hornets only give a fuck if you're within 5 meters of their nest and then they will let you KNOW they ain't playin'.
Wasps can suck a dick tho.
I've only ever been stung by wasps. I was never doing anything to them, they came near me, I didn't even move, stung me and then flew away.
I am not sure what part of the ecosystem wasps are filling but I'm prepared to wipe them out and see if it makes any difference.
The worst of bumblebee has ever done is flown into me, but they do have a surprising amount of mess behind them.
A bee headbutting you is not necessarily an agressive act, could be just investigatory on the part of the bee. I've walked into the heart of a flowering shrub covered in hungry bees, during which they either ignored me or headbutted me. As long as "defending the hive" isn't part of the bee interaction, they are usually very chill but remain very curious. I'm still careful when the headbutts happen because accidents happen and a confused bee tangled in hair may still sting. But I have also gently untangled a bee or two without anyone getting hurt.
Even when defending the hive, bees seem to prefer as little direct agression as possible. I've stepped into a clearing and suddenly found myself way too close to a wild bee hive and got stung exactly once by a bee that got tangled in my hair as I fled the approaching swarm.
I've also gotten a solitary wasp tangled in my hair, near no hive or any flowers, and gotten stung 3 times on one knuckle as thanks for setting them free. The bees have taught me to treat them with compassion and respect. The wasps have taught me to react with murder and extreme violence before they are even aware of me.
Both are pollinators though. So despite the animosity, I don't go out of my way to wage war against wasps the way I do mosquitoes.
They're the real life Xenomorph, so make of that what you will.
Also, somebody pointed out that Wasp stingers don't fall off like bees do when stinging humans, so they're way more incentivised to stab you than normal.