Written by Brigit Strawbridge Howard, this is her wildlife journey with British bees. I was very surprised to learn that there are ‘at least twenty thousand different species of bee’ on this planet. Of those only 9 are honey bees and 250 are bumblebees, the rest belong roughly to two other groups, sting-less bees and solitary bees, but all are important pollinators. As a naturalist I found the material interesting — certainly with its human touch more engaging than the dry scientific papers I try to keep up with. My fear though, is that the level of detail will be a limiting factor in attracting readership. Sales may be enough for the publisher, but I don't see that many delving into the contents. These important facts and observations do not in any way overshadow the love story that unfolds between Brigit and the bees she so carefully studies with such tenderness and affection, having rediscovered her connection with nature and having made a commitment to nurture this new awakening and help it to grow. It started with an awareness of bees and the discovery that there are at least twenty five thousand different species of bee. This staggering amount was a surprise to me as well, and even more surprisingly, within this figure, there are only 9 types of honey bee, around 250 bumblebees, 500 or so sting-less bees and a greater number of solitary bees. Birgit Howard nimmt einen mit auf eine Reise durch die Natur. Vor allem auf eine Reise durch die Bienenwelt. Sie zeigt bzw. erklärt einem unterschiedliche Arten von Bienen, Hummeln, etc. und geht darauf ein, wie man die kleinen Helferlein schützen und unterstützen kann. Außerdem spricht sie darüber, wie man die Welt um sich herum wieder bewusster wahrnehmen kann, da vielen dieses Gefühl irgendwo auf ihrem Weg verloren geht.

And so we can learn much about bees as bee lovers when we read this book as well as a wealth of information about other pollinators, wildlife and wild plants which all contribute to the world of bees and demonstrate the incredible connectedness in nature and how different species support and compliment each other. There are many wonderful observations and stories which you can glean from the enchanting chapter headings such as Bees Behaving Badly, The Cabin by the Stream, To Bee or not to Bee, In Praise of Trees, Time for Tea and Cotton Weavers. A quaint and charming memoir on how the author reconnected with nature using bees as her tour guide. It’s taken me ages to read this book, not because It’s an arduous read or I’m a slow reader, but because I’ve been poring over the words and descriptions, re-reading sections, immersing myself. The book also outlines how to help bees, including recommending some specific plants that bees love, including ivy and comfrey (which is also a great soil enricher, particularly in the form of 'comfrey tea, the making of which is described here.)

I met Brigit at a Triodos conference in Bristol over a decade ago when this book was first brewing, and I have followed her journey with interest ever since. Reading this wonderful book, I’m left with one very large regret: that Brigit Strawbridge Howard lives and writes about nature in Britain rather than in North America. That is, the vast majority of the insects and plants whose stories she tells so compellingly do not exist anywhere near where I live. This was first brought home most starkly by her account of a queen bumblebee on the wing in February! In my part of the world, one is unlikely to spot a flying bumblebee before May. It was frustrating to find myself unable to be present on her treks around the Hebrides, Devon, Malvern and other spots, watching the mating dance of bees and butterflies, potter wasps building their elegant nests, walking past hedgerows, hosts of wildflowers, dozens of bee species unknown hereabouts; and then, the flight song of skylarks, for heaven’s sake!

As something of an armchair naturalist, I have read several books about bees so I was excited to receive a free copy of this audiobook for review. Die enthaltenen Zeichnungen sind sehr schön und auf jeden Fall ein Pluspunkt, jedoch hätte ich es besser gefunden, wenn es auch das eine oder andere Foto gegeben hätte. Nicht nur von den verschiedenen Bienenarten, sondern auch von den beschriebenen Landschaften. A beautiful book and one that hums with good life. Brigit Strawbridge Howard came late to bees but began noticing them at a time when their going was being widely announced. Her attention has been clear-sighted but also loving. By looking closely at the hummers and the buzzers, she has begun to take in the whole of what Charles Darwin called the 'tangled bank' of life, where there are bees (and Brigit's winning descriptions will help you know them) and there are plants, and there are other pollinators and nectar-seekers, including Homo sapiens. No other insect – surely no other animal – has had such a long and life-giving relationship with humans. Bees may well have shaped our evolution; our continued well-being is certainly dependent on them. Bees have long been part of our consciousness and art, buzzing in parables and fables and ancient and modern poems made out of their industry and their organisation and their marvellous sweet products. All that is in this book: It is ambrosia."

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A] fascinating and wide-ranging exploration of nature. . .This satisfying memoir of a woman’s reawakening to the importance of nature in her life will appeal to fans of natural history memoirs, bees, the natural world, or ecology." This audiobook was beautifully narrated by the author and the joy and excitement about the subject manner is plain to hear. The only reason I am giving the book 4 stars instead of 5 is because I sorely missed having more pictures. Brigit singles out a distinguishing feature for each bee – a moustache or a marking – and gives each one character. It would have been useful to have this reflected in a colour guide to the bees mentioned. I did refer to my Collins handbook of insects, but was soon overwhelmed. Dancing with Bees is an antidote to the reality of modern life that’s spent nose down in our smartphones while the wondrous stuff—nature—goes on all around us. Brigit Strawbridge Howard chronicles her own journey of reconnecting with the natural world with heartfelt eloquence. Her descriptions of the creatures, plants, and landscapes that populate her journey are made with the unabashed joy of someone for whom a veil has been lifted, revealing a world to be cherished but also in great need of our protection.” —Matthew Wilson, garden designer; author; panelist, BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time Dr. George McGavin, president, Dorset Wildlife Trust; honorary research associate, Oxford University Museum of Natural History

This book is a delightful insight into a hidden world. We are all familiar with bees buzzing around and may know something of their elegant social organisation, but I was amazed by Brigit’s lucid descriptions of the extraordinary diversity of bees, just in this country, of the very different lives they lead, and of the challenges they all face. The remarkable impact that seemingly passive or insignificant living things have upon the world around us: Recent research, based on the observation of evening primroses, shows that these plants themselves respond to the sound of bees buzzing. Within just minutes of sensing the sound of a nearby bee, the concentration of sugar in the nectar produced by the plants increases by an average of 20 percent. Incredibly, the flowers even seem to be able to filter out irrelevant noises, such as the wind.She shares with us both her own discoveries and lore that she gathers through her extensive research into what others have written. Some of the most fascinating revelations have to do with the ways in which plants and insects interrelate: Embarking on her studies, Brigit found that in some cases, it could take a whole day to identify one single bee and so a deep dive into biological taxonomy followed. Here we learn much about the way species are categorised, providing a fascinating insight into the meaning of names given to different species and how they are broken down and organised. Drilling down to the minutiae of every single bee, however, proved to be a somewhat laborious task and another more immediate and satisfying solution for bee identification came to the fore.