Do swallows eat bees?

[Winker]

As per the title I have 2 swallows at the end of the garden all day, just wondering

 

[Ceph]

Not sure to be honest but I have seen sparrows take mine and wipe the bees like a beecatcher on a tree branch to get out the sting before swallowing.

It's a good sight to be honest but they havnt done it much to my knowledge though.

 

[Nomadickarl]

Do swallows eat bees? Do bears bob in the woods? They especially love virgin queens on their mating flight.

 

[thurrock bees]

i would say yes, as swallows eating flying insects and bees are ....

 

[Ceph]

Do swallows eat bees? Do bears bob in the woods? They especially love virgin queens on their mating flight.

That's probably were my VQ has gone, she's the new Keyser Söze.

 

[DanBee]

You can hear the snap as they take drones on the wing...

 

[SER]

We have several swallows nesting close to some of my hives and I swear I have produced more swallow food than honey in the last couple of years!

 

[kathrynat]

That explains why we had more swallows and house martins than ever last year. Easy pickings.

 

[itchyhives]

Beautiful birds though, always makes me happy when the Swallows return, ours have just arrived back in the last 2 weeks.

 

[Midland Beek]

No bird species commonly found in the UK eats bees.

 

[beestingjohn]

I've never heard of swallows and house martins eating bees before.Is there any real evidence?

 

[merylvingien]

To be honest, even if they took ten or twenty a day, does it really matter?

It certainly wont affect your bees in any sort of form or fashion! And if it did, i would start to think maybe i should look at these bees and find out why they are almost dead.

I love swallows and swifts, house martins and all these types of birds, they have a real battle for life and we should encourage them where we can.
I had a pair nesting in my outhouse/shed/bbq roofed thing a few years back, they succeeded for a couple of years, but then never returned. I think maybe the pair was killed on thier 6 thousand mile journey and no one has ever taken up the space! One day soon i hope.

 

[beestingjohn]

:agree:
It would be an extra reason to keep Bees

 

[kathrynat]

I am lucky. I have house martin's nest on both gable ends of the house and numerous swallow nests in the farm buildings. I don't begrudge them taking the odd bee.

 

[DanBee]

To be honest, even if they took ten or twenty a day, does it really matter?

Generally, no, and like you I am happy to feed the birds as the attrition rate is generally so low.

However, in the very cool and wet summer of 2007 we lost an abnormally high proportion of queens on mating flights. The speculation was that there was very little in the way of airborne lunch for the birds, hence mating flights were a welcome source of nutrition.

Still not a reason to discourage swifts, swallows, etc. as in an ordinary summer mating losses aren't problematic; it's just the way things work.

I have also seen mason bee nesters poorly placed near convenient perches. In the spring, the abundance of bird crap and lack of subsequent mason bee nesting suggests that the nester has been used as a buffet by local birds. Better placement avoids this problem.

 

[Winker]

Aye since being a young lad, I have always loved the Swallow, Swift and House Martin. The black swift is my favourite, every time I see them screeching and dodging around the way they do.

One Swallow came into my shed the other day as I was sitting in there watching my Dogs play, it flew around the shed then flew out, then came back in into the shed, hovered in the corner and eat a spider. The sat on my shed door give it self a prune and a dust off then flew off to chase my bees again.

Loved it!

 

[MrB]

No bird species commonly found in the UK eats bees.

the sparrows in my garden do

 

[tonybloke]

yep, sparrows and great tits clearing up under my hives.

 

[Mandeville]

I've been a bit worried that my bees are vulnerable because they use the bird-bath as a water source.

But I've not seen any birds picking them off ...... so far

 

[Midland Beek]

the sparrows in my garden do

Okay, 'live bees'.

Any bird getting stung in the mouth or neck or stomach is going to be in a lot of trouble.

See info on Bee Eater found in southern Europe (Wiki): This is a bird which breeds in open country in warmer climates. Just as the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. Before eating its meal, a European Bee-eater removes the sting by repeatedly hitting the insect on a hard surface. It eats some 250 bees daily.