Potty

Some US scientists have done some work that they themselves describe as 'fringe' research on bees, and are throwing around words like 'sentience' and 'consciousness' - thoughts, memories, emotions, post-traumatic stress, personality. Of course, they have written a book, and a press release, which generates an article in the news. I feel as if I should have an opinion on it. I don't know; we have spent several millennia trying - and not fully succeeding - to pin down what consciousness is in our own species; trying to assess it in insects is a big leap. All beekeepers are aware of the different behaviour of different colonies, their different responses to the beekeeper's activities, the way a colony will react differently to different people. But we have to be so careful about projecting our human concepts onto creatures whose experience of existence we cannot penetrate

I'm as guilty of anthropomorphism as anyone else. Some colonies are "friendly", some are "prickly", some are "nervous, but not nasty" and so on. Below a hive roof, there is a 'ceiling' (properly called a 'crown board') that forms the 'lid' of the column of boxes that are the hive. This board has one or two holes in it, a bit like loft-hatches in a house; they are designed for feeding the bees from above. Some beekeepers are meticulous about closing up the holes when not in use, with a plug or wire mesh. We take a more relaxed approach, happy to leave the holes open. Most of the bees stay below the crown board where the comb is, unless the colony is over-crowded - in which case, my bad, I should have given them more space. But there are almost always a few walking slowly around on top of the crown board, not really doing anything, not that bothered by me removing the roof or even lifting the crown board to access the hive - for all the world as if they are deep in thought and distracted. I refer to them as "the philosophers"; I fantasise that they are the core of the colony's decision-making process - when to expand, when to collect pollen, when to start producing drones, when to swarm - descending into the colony with their conclusions and prescriptions when they have given the matter sufficient thought. Ha - sentience and consciousness - what nonsense!

A friend is moving house, all being well, and asked if we could give a temporary home to some of their outdoor pot plants. Yesterday the plants arrived - three van loads of them! We spent much of today finding spare horizontal space that is not already grassed or planted, and not in the way, then moving the pots - some of them needing two of us to lift them. So now we have an instantly enriched garden, and the view from some of the windows is transformed. It's all rather fun - at least until we have to start watering; Mrs M did a quick count, and says there are 130 pots!

Of course, there are people who say plants have consciousness...