Bumble Bees

'How doth the little bumble bee improve each shining hour and gather honey all the day from every opening flower'
This design is from a collection of circular pieces inspired by my garden and the lovely little bumble bees that often pay me a visit.

Here are some interesting bumble bee facts:
• Bees have been around for more than 30,000,000 years.
• All worker bees are female.
• The average worker bee produces about half a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
• Bees have two stomachs one for food, one for nectar.
• The worker bee would visit approximately one hundred flowers in one collection.
• It takes over a thousand bees to make 1kg of honey and they would of visited over 4 million flowers.
• Honey bees communicate by dancing
• In winter they huddle together to keep themselves and the queen bee warm.

I love the fact about the bee having two stomachs. It makes me smile as my youngest daughter used to say she had two compartments in her tummy. When her dinner compartment was full she couldn't eat anymore, but she could still eat pudding because that compartment was empty!