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The original was posted on /r/bestofredditorupdates by /u/LucyAriaRose on 2025-06-23 04:00:32+00:00.

I am NOT the Original Poster. That is vbloke. They posted in r/CasualUK

Thanks to u/themadwhodatter for the rec!

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Mood Spoiler: beautiful and sad

Original Post: June 10, 2025

Title: The tale of a bumblebee and a soft hearted human

Out for a walk this morning and I see a bumblebee on the pavement. I almost always pick them up so they don’t get stepped on and leave them on a wall or nearby flower.

This time however, I saw her wings were gone and she wouldn’t survive long, so I decided to take her home to make her as comfortable as I could whilst she survived.

I set her up in a box with some leaves, flowers, nesting materials and damp moss to have a drink from.

Took her a while to settle in, but she soon found the flowers and had a feed and a wander about. She’s currently having a nap under a big leaf.

I know you’re not supposed to bring bumblebees indoors, but the box is by an open window so she has natural light and fresh air. I suppose I’m trying to make sure she’s safe and comfortable for as long as I can provide for her.

Image descriptions:

Image 1: the bumblebee in OOP’s hand

Image 2: the box full of leaves and flowers

Image 3: Ms. Bumble chilling on a purple flower

Image 4: Chilling on a yellow flower

OOP updates in a Comment: 1 hour later

Went out and got some more wildflowers for her. She woke up after a nap and is having a good explore of them. She really seems to prefer the cornflowers.

Image

Some of OOP’s Comments

Commenter: What happens to them that makes their wings look like that?

OOP: They don’t look like they developed properly to begin with. Either down to bad luck or deformed wing virus or similar.

Commenter: I’m so invested in this little bumbler! Gotta get hourly updates as this is better than the news!

OOP: (3 hours from OG post) She’s napping again.

Image: Napping

Commenter: Awww bless her! I absolutely love seeing the bees in me garden flying flower to flower! Have you given her a name yet or do you not bother? You could name her after her favourite flowers that you picked?

OOP: I’ve just had her out on my hand in the sunshine and she had a good preening session.

I’m calling her Beelinda

Commenter: I’m holding back tears for a tiny little bee I’ll never meet, and how good you’re making her short little life. She’d never have made it long in the wild, and you’re such a kind person for taking care of Beelinda.

OOP: I checked on her about 20 minutes ago. She’s fast asleep under a leaf, having dug herself a little nest.

Update Comment: June 11, 2025 (Next Day)

My sadly wingless bee friend Beelinda is currently sat on my thumb warming up after having a breakfast of flower nectar and pollen. I think she’s going to need a while to warm up properly.

I’ll be kitting her bee terrarium out properly today with some more flowers and other things for her to climb around and dig into.

Image

My cuppa and her flower for an early morning pick me up

Update Post: June 11, 2025 (Same Day as comment)

Title: Wingless bumblebee living her best life.

Yesterday, I rescued a bumblebee who’s suffering from deformed wing virus and would likely not survive in the wild.

I’ve now gone all out on her little bee sanctuary - fresh flowers, soil, compost, twigs, bark and grass cuttings to nest in. There’s also a sugar water soaked kitchen roll (you can just about see her having a drink from it in the top left corner).

She’s been having a good explore all day and is currently digging a nest underneath the cornflowers in the bottom left corner.

She loves basking in the sunshine when it comes out from behind the clouds and I have been remiss at work as I keep stopping to just watch her go about her beesiness.

Image

Comments:

Top Commenter: I saw your post yesterday, yer a good egg doing this. You’ve made her an air bee & bee.

OOP: Had I awards to give, you would have one for that.

Commenter: I feel like I’m playing Where’s Wally. Where’s the bee?

OOP: Top left, just hanging onto the bottom of the kitchen roll.

Commenter: How am I this invested in the comings and goings of a disabled bumblebee?

OOP: She’s had a really good explore of her home. She got a bit annoyed at me when I tried to lift her out so I could add more grass cuttings. Image

Commenter: Not to want to want to bring the mood down, but you seem to know a lot about bees. Is this something that could/will shorten a bees life if it has this issue? Is it capable of having a long and fulfilling life in your fantastic air bee and bee? Great work by the way.

OOP: Left alone, the bee would typically die in a day or so if it was fully symptomatic. If, like this one, it seems mostly OK aside from the deformed wings, it could live a near normal lifespan if it has access to food and water (around 2-3 weeks).

DWV [deformed wing virus] can cause other issues like incomplete or lame limbs, but she seems to have full use of all hers and shows no signs of cognitive issues either, which can be another symptom. She seems to be showing all the normal bumblebee behaviours and doesn’t seem to be in distress.

It’s pretty much fatal and not pleasant in honey bees, but in bumblebees it’s not necessarily a fatal illness, just a debilitating one that leads to starving to death as they can’t reach flowers to feed on.

Commenter: That seems to be the best news in the circumstances then! This lucky bee seems to have stumbled upon the best person to care for her. Thank you for your explanation!

OOP: There’s no guarantees with DWV, I could wake up tomorrow and she’s not with us any more, or she could live for a couple more weeks. I’m just trying to make whatever time she has as comfortable as I can

Commenter: This is really interesting, thanks!

Is it likely she is in anyway stressed by being unable to exhibit her natural behaviour? On an instinctual level I guess, given she’s an insect!

OOP: Hard to tell, but stressed bumblebees tend to climb as high as they can or run in circles and she’s not shown any of those behaviours.

She’s also happy to climb on my hand and nap.

Mini Update Comment: June 12, 2025 (Next Day, 2 from OG post)

I need to replace some of the flowers as they’re spent, but she’s enjoying the sugar water damp kitchen roll for breakfast. Image

Update [Post](https://www/…

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/comments/1li71bz/the_tale_of_a_wingless_bumblebee_beelinda_and_a/

  • Spacehooks@reddthat.comMEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    Mini Update Comment: June 12, 2025 (Next Day, 2 from OG post)

    I need to replace some of the flowers as they’re spent, but she’s enjoying the sugar water damp kitchen roll for breakfast. Image

    Update Post 3: June 12, 2025 (Same day as comment)

    Title: Beelinda update (day 3)

    She’s up and about before me, so I replaced her sugar water kitchen roll breakfast pick me up, which she made a bee-line for.

    I’m going to be replacing the flowers later this morning - all aside from those 3 in the bottom corner as she dragged those there herself and that’s her nest where she goes to bed at night.

    It’s adorable watching the large pale blue one slowly rise and fall as she “breathes” (bees move their abdomen to pump air through their bodies instead of having lungs like we do).

    She always makes a careful inventory of the new flowers I bring her, visiting each one on turn and deciding if she likes it or not. Yellow ones are a definite pass - purple and blue and the favourites.

    She still likes to climb on my hand from time to time when she’s not napping, feeding or exploring. Although yesterday she climbed up my arm, and then pooped onto my shirt. She then got a case of the zoomies and I had to be careful as she ran all up my arm, along my back, down my leg and back again.

    Image: Beelinda in her flowers

    One of OOP’s Comments:

    Commenter: TIL bees get the zoomies.

    OOP: Not sure all bees do, but most of them will burn a lot of energy flying. She can’t, so she has to burn it off somehow.

    Mini Update Comment: June 13, 2025 (Next Day, 3 days from OG post)

    Here she is having a last minute feed just before she dug herself a new nest in the top left corner as I think she can sense the thunderstorm coming.

    Image

    Update Post 4: June 14, 2025 (Next Day, 4 from OG post- recovered)

    Last night, she’s went on a bit of a feeding frenzy around 6pm, had a bout of the zoomies and then buried herself in the deepest part of her sanctuary. I think she could sense the rain coming.

    Sadly, Mother Nature had other ideas and the promised thunderstorms never happened, but we did get a bit of rain.

    This morning she’s up and about having another feed, she got a bit frantic when I grabbed my cuppa and sat next to her sanctuary, so I let her climb onto my finger and she ran around all over my arm and head - I had to carefully extricate her from my hair - and she’s now back in her nest area having a rest.

    It’s sad watching her exercise her flight muscles to warm up and hopefully take flight, knowing her wings will never work, but I also know she’s part doing it to warm up and help pump air into her body.

    Image

    Some of OOP’s Comments:

    On OOP making their own sub:

    I already have r/Cordials - that’s more than enough for me

    Commenter: I hope Beelinda knows that I love her. If not, could you tell her please?

    OOP: I gave her a drop of sugar water for you Image: Beelinda eating up some sugar water

    Update Comment: June 15, 2025 (Next Day, 5 from OG post)

    Beelinda was up and about early this morning and was in a right huff when she realised her sugar water station was dry. Caught her going up, having a sniff and then walking off, about to dig back into her nest.

    I got it refreshed with new paper and water and she zoomed back over for an early morning pick-me-up before having a bit of proper breakfast on the lavender and cornflowers.

    She’s also a right little madam and will have a right strop when I take her out so I can clean and refresh her home with new grass and flowers. When she gets back in, she’ll make a point of gesturing to me (raising up on her back legs and waving her front legs at me) for me to pick her up. When I do, she poos on me. Then she’ll have another flower meal and a bout of zoomies before a nap. Image

    Some of OOP’s Comments:

    Commenter: I am in awe of you. Not many people would take the trouble to make a nice home for a disabled bee.

    OOP: It’s been interesting being so close to a bee for this amount of time - I’ve learnt a lot about her behaviour and I am definitely noticing a personality as well.

    Mini Update in Comments: June 16, 2025 (Next Day, 6 days from OG post)

    Beelinda has discovered a fun new game. After having a feed, she gestures to get lifted up. Once she’s on my hand, she deliberately falls over o to her back so I have to tip her the right way up again. Repeat about 20 times.

    Image

    Final Update: June 16, 2025 (3 hours later, 6 days from OG post)

    Beelinda died this morning at 10am. She had a lovely morning with fresh flowers and a play on my hand and arm first thing. After that, she seemed to start to struggle to move and then began to slowly curl up - a sure sign she was on her way.

    I tried to make her a comfortable as I could in her final moments and then surrounded her with flowers once she had finally stopped moving.

    She had a Viking funeral in her sanctuary in the back garden.

    Bumblebees with DWV only tend to live for a couple of days - she lived for a week with me in as much comfort as I could provide for her. She had a definite personality and always wanted to climb on my hand when she saw me. I’m going to miss her.

    Image 1: Beelinda

    Image 2: Beelinda in OOP’s hand

    Image 3: Closeup of Beelinda on some purple flowers

    Image 4: Another closeup

    Image 5: Beelinda hanging under the purple flowers

    Image 6: Beelinda surrounded by flowers as her final resting place

    Image 6: the viking funeral

    Some of OOP’s Comments:

    Commenter: Can I please send you a small gift for a beer or gift on Amazon?

    OOP: Thanks for the offer, but donate to https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/ in her memory if you want to.

    Commenter: Just signed up as a family!

    OOP: I have been a member and a volunteer there for a while now. They are a spectacularly worthwhile charity doing really good work.

    To a deleted commenter:

    Thank you fellow bee saver. I knew when I found her that she may only live a few days, but that those days deserved to be as nice as possible and not slowly starving to death on a pavement. She would go mad when I brought new flowers, carefully inspecting each one in turn and then picking one or two to feed from. Then she’s have a clean and rise up on her back legs to wave at me - her way of indicating she wanted to be picked up. She’d chill out on my hand for a while and then buzz her vestigial wings to say she wanted to go zoomies. I’d put her back in the sanctuary and she’d zoom about like a mad thing. Then she’s bury herself in the grass and straw for a nap. She had such a personality and playful way about her. It’s actually made me quite sad now she’s gone.

    Commenter (with the this is fine dog meme): Beelinda waking up from her nap to a viking funeral:

    OOP: You jest, and it has brought some levity to the thread, so thanks. You can tell when a bumblebee is no longer with us - they curl up with their legs usually tucked in and their abdomen no longer “breathes”. They don’t have lungs like we do, but a series of tiny holes in their bodies that lets air in. They move their abdomens to help move air around their bodies to breathe, even when asleep.

    Commenter: I abeeciate the fun fact.

    For clarity, I didn’t doubt she had passed. I’ve loved these posts too, been fun to read.

    OOP: Every day is a learning day. The more people learn about these gorgeous creatures and their lifecycles, the better.

    Commenter: That’s the most extraordinary thing to me: that a human being and a bumblebee could have a real relationship that included communication (Beelinda waved her front legs, which you understood as her wanting to be picked up). Beautiful.

    OOP: She invented a game we could play together too. When she was on my hand, she’d tip herself over backwards and wait for me to tip her back the right way up. We’d do it several times. It took a fair bit of effort for her to tip backwards, so it wasn’t accidental and she’d keep doing it. It’s also not a thing bumblebees do normally.

    One last thought from OOP:

    You are never truly gone until nobody remembers you any more. Long may she live on.