After walking the dogs around the paddock this morning I went back to top up the sheep's two water buckets. There's no running water in the field so this is the only way they can get a supply. It doesn't take long, I just turn on the hosepipe to the polytunnel and carry over two watering cans full of fresh water.
I always check before I pour into the buckets, indeed I check the buckets every time we walk past them, for any little insects trying not to drown. Usually I put a stick or a rock in every bucket or any standing water so that anything that falls in can climb out but we can't do it in the sheep's buckets or they'll poke an eye out or not drink out of the bucket at all. Today there was a bee, floating totally still on the surface of the water. I found a flat stone and carefully lifted him out. Leaving him on the warm stone I watched for a minute and sure enough he started to move around.
Clever little bee had expended as little energy as possible and floated calmly on the surface for I don't know how long. I realised he would be short of energy even though he had been clever enough to stay so still in the water, so I went over to a bush that was full of blossom and pulled off a sprig.
Sure enough after a few minutes of drying in the weak morning sunshine the bee started to feel around inside the flowers. I don't know how much nourishment it would have got from a bit of blossom but it seemed to help.
I left Mr Bee to his own devices and went back to fetching water for the chickens having replenished the sheep's buckets.
It's always nice to start the day saving a life.
