Silent Bee Movie

Yesterday there was much bee activity in my garden, so I decided to film it. Here are the edited highlights:

When I was a child my father was fond of quoting the Yeats poem, The Lake Isle of Innisfree.  In particular this verse:

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, 

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; 

Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee, 

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

He would often simply state the last line as we walked along a country path. At times it would perplex me, but yesterday it was the sound that drew me to the bees and it mesmerized me, drawing me into the activity.  Sadly I have not captured this - another project - but I could happily sit in a bee-loud glade for an eternity.

I defy anyone to watch this and not ask questions about this behaviour.  My instinct is to formally capture it using the standard tools of foraging theory, but going back to basics and simply wondering at the fundamental phenomenon is a simple and essential pleasure for any behavioural scientist.