*Competition now closed*
I have a prize to give away! I have been contacted by fdcovers, a stamp collectibles company who have released some art work for the new Royal Mail Bees of Britain stamps issued in August 2015. The six stamps have been designed by Anna Ekelund and beautifully illustrated by wildlife illustrator Richard Lewington. It’s nice that some less well-known bees have been chosen – would you recognise the Scabious bee (Andrena hattorfiana) or Bilberry bumblebee (Bombus monticola) if you saw one?
Fdcovers produce art work to accompany the stamps:
- We purchase new stamps from the Royal Mail prior to the issue date. We design a special envelope called a ‘cover’ and a presentation album.
- Once the stamps have been fixed to the covers they are cancelled on the day of issue with a postmark designed by us (also called a Special Hand Stamp). Hand stamping on the day of issue can never be repeated.
- All our covers and albums are limited edition. For example, for ‘Celebrating Bees’ we have limited the issue to 1000 per cover.
- You can see the full bees product range at bees.fdcovers.com
I’m particularly impressed that their bee album contains an everlasting sweet pea fragrance! Also they will be supporting bees with a donation to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and the British Beekeeping Association.
Fdcovers’ limited edition signed art print (which is limited to 120) retails for £32.00 and they have kindly offered me a free one to give away to a lucky reader. A picture of this beautiful print is below.
To enter:
- Please leave a comment telling me either your favourite thing about bees OR a memorable experience you had with a bee. I will number the comments in the order they’re left and pick the winner at random using a random number generator.
- UK readers only please and the closing date will be Thursday 17th September. If you win I’ll contact you using the email address you commented with.
Terms and conditions
1. The promoter is: Fdcovers.com (company no. 09119257) whose registered office is at 40 Queen Anne Street, London W1G 9EL.
2. Employees of Fdcovers.com or their family members or anyone else connected in any way with the competition or helping to set up the competition shall not be permitted to enter the competition.
3. There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter this competition.
4. Closing date for entry will be Thursday 17 September. After this date no further entries to the competition will be accepted.
5. The promoter reserves the right to cancel or amend the competition and these terms and conditions without notice in the event of a catastrophe, war, civil or military disturbance, act of God or any actual or anticipated breach of any applicable law or regulation or any other event outside of the promoter’s control. Any changes to the competition will be notified to entrants as soon as possible by the promoter.
6. No cash alternative to the prize will be offered and the prize is not transferable. The prize is subject to availability and Fdcovers reserve the right to substitute the prize with another of equivalent value without giving notice.
7. By entering this competition, an entrant is indicating his/her agreement to be bound by these terms and conditions.
8. The competition and these terms and conditions will be governed by English law and any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.
*Competition now closed*
Adventuresinbeeland's Blog 
OK, I won’t leave a comment.
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Very good.
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My favourite thing about bees is the noise – especially the wonderfully low drone in our raspberry forest during early Summer
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Thanks Mo – I think you accidentally left two comments, so I’ll just enter one in the competition. Oh to have a raspberry forest! Are you in Scotland?
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My favourite thing about bees is the sound – especially the low drone in our raspberry garden in early summer
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Emily, while I am a U.S.-based reader I have a good friend in Farnham who would be happy to receive the print on my behalf. I love the new stamps as well as the print. What a great little contest for you to run.
For me bees bring to mind my grandfather, who kept bees for over 30 years and sold liquid and raw honey; as well as comb and hand-dipped and molded candles. We visited nearly every summer and I loved to watch him make candles in the candle house and listen to him talk about bees and honey. A lot of happy memories travel with bees whenever I see them.
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Thanks Erik, I will enter your comment and if you win the print can be sent you to your friend in Farnham. I only said UK only because I didn’t want to put Fdcovers in the position of having to spend a lot on postage.
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Great post Emily, it led me to read about the Adrena which led to reading about the many many wild plants that support them which it turns out all grow very close to my bees….. Fancy Podgara being so useful. I will take more care with my scything now…..
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Great news that you have these plants nearby!
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I grew up in the country and most of the plants my mother grew were bee-friendly so the garden on a warm day always had a friendly hum from the bees! I love their shape and the fuzziness of their bodies. This July I went on an excellent bee keeping course at Hen Corner in south London to find out more. This was terrific and gave me so much confidence about handling bees and frames and knowledge bout their life style and how to raise them. I also got my bee identifier chart just recently from Friends of the Earth but I’m not yet proficient!
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Ah yes I know Sara at Hen Corner and her courses are excellent indeed 🙂
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That’s a tough question! I can’t think of only one thing about bees that I like but I think my special occasion was when an Anthidium manicatum buzzed around me while I was walking and then sat on the back of my neck as if it was trying to make friends, so cute. I do have a U.K. address and so I would like to be entered for the competition. Amelia
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Thanks Amelia, a very special moment indeed, how lovely.
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So many things to love about bees….
For me, I love the total concentration required when I inspect my hives – I can’t think about anything else. The bees give me a wonderful peaceful space in a hectic world.
I also love that my children have become tuned into the seasons and nature because we have bees, and that their friends are so interested and enthusiastic too. For city kids it is brilliant.
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I know what you mean – I almost go into a trance-like state when inspecting,
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I think it’s watching a bee land on a hive pollen sacs full, knowing that it’s going toward building more bees!
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He he! Yes love seeing all their colourful shopping baskets.
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I spend many happy hours watching these delightful creatures coming back to the hive, their pollen baskets absolutely laden, and sometimes crash landing due to the weight of their load! Like little beasts of burden they carry out their designated task for the benefit of their kind and ultimately for us all!
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Ha ha! The crash landing is like us flopping down on the sofa after a long shopping spree.
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They are very pretty stamps. I think we also had bee stamps in the US a while ago.
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Thanks Donna, I’ve been very impressed by how pretty they all are.
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My garden has been filled with bee loving plants that flourish with a partnership of mutual cars,,its such a joy to sit and watch the numerous varieties that visit,they have made my garden the delight it is by regular visits and helping pollination,
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Sounds wonderful, thank you for helping the bees.
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I have loved bees especially Bumble bees since i was 11. One day 2 friends, lads got me to close my eyes and hold out my hands. So i did, they cupped my hand over the top of my hand. I felt movement on my hand and a slight humming sound. I open my eyes and hand off and there was a very large Bumble bee. I think the boys thought i was scared but i wasn’t. It stayed on my hand for at least a minute and didn’t attempt to sting me.
From that day i have had no fear of bees.
When i have bees come into the house i always show them an open windiw and talk to them to go out and it might sound daft but they do go out.
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Great story…. You showed those boys… if it was very large wonder if you had a queen in your hands! The bumbles are such gentle creatures.
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My favourite thing about keeping bees? Their unpredictability and how you keep learning.
My memorable moment? When a newly purchased (expensive) queen bee hopped onto my bee suit, went south through my legs and then flew off into the distance. She’d been in the hive just four days!
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Oh my! Never trust the expensive queens! She obviously went off to find a palace.
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Those stamps are gorgeous! I love bees 🙂 They’re one of my favourite things to photograph 🙂 I think it’s the fluffiness, and the eyes that I love. My best and worst experience of bees was when a honeybee swarm moved into my house last year! They were in the bedroom and bathroom … everywhere! It was a bit of a nightmare at first and I got my first bee sting ever when I accidentally stood on a sleepy one. However, the next morning things settled down and we became fond of eachother. They set up home in our loft and we watched them busily about their business coming in and out through a gap in the eaves. Sadly there is a sting in the tail (sorry!) of this story as their nest got taken over by wasps and we had to deal with the remainder of that summer being driven mad by wasps hanging around in the bathroom every single day, freaking us out. Bees are much better houseguests than wasps!
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They are so fluffy and hairy 🙂 You were very patient with the wasps, many would have called in pest control. I know they have their place in the garden and the ecosystem but they are hard creatures to appreciate! If a bee swarm comes again you could try calling a local beekeeper to see if they’re happy to collect it. The British Beekeeping Association has a swarms hotline you can call to find out contact details for beekeepers looking to collect swarms.
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