Little Bumbly Bee

 Little Bumbly Bee was the smallest of his family of five brothers and six sisters. He was always being picked on by his siblings for his size and lack of pollen he collected for the family home. Bumbly was his mother's favourite, being the youngest in the family and he had the loveliest of nature, always buzzing here and there enjoying being out amongst the flowers in the meadow.

As a family, Bumbly and his brothers and sisters along with his Mother and Father, flew all over the area they lived in collecting the pollen and nectar from the various beautifully coloured flowers that offered such tasty treats.

On this particular sunny morning, the family were foraging and buzzing amongst the flowers when Mother bee noticed that Bumbly was missing. "where on earth can he have got to" Mother bee thought. The rest of the family were widely spread and she flew to each of them to ask if Bumbly had been seen. No one had seen Bumbly since leaving their home that morning and so a search was arranged by Father bee for the family to spread out over their area to look for the little bee.

As dusk approached, the bee family were exhausted looking for Bumbly and so they all returned to their home to discuss what was to be done. A restless and worrying night lay ahead.

In a meadow filled with flowers of all description and colours, Bumbly found himself wondering where he was and it was getting very dark with no sign of his family anywhere. With  a feeling of apprehension and a sense of being lost he had the instinct to look for a safe place to be until morning and so he found a flower with a deep well and settled for the night.

As the light of morning arrived and with it heavy rain, Bumbly awoke from his safe shelter and decided to make his way home, but, where was home? Bees are notable navigators and it is a known fact that bees do not like to fly in the rain as wet wings slow them down and they use the sun to navigate. They make their way back to their home using a combination of sunlight and mental maps of their surrounding geography to ensure they never get lost. However, Bumbly had not reached that crucial stage of fully learning about the art of navigation.

With the heavy rain, Bumbly was feeling very wet and unable to fly for any distance and so he stayed within this new area he had come to. Along his short flights he came across a beautiful white butterfly who was sitting atop a big sunflower. As Bumbly approached the sunflower he landed right beside the butterfly. The butterfly looked at Bumbly and said "Hi, my name is Sen who are you?" Bumbly, feeling very disoriented answered, "I am Bumbly and I am wet and lost". "You are very young to be out on your own" Sen said. "Yes" said Bumbly, "I was so happy to be amongst the beautiful flowers full of nectar and pollen I did not realise that I had wandered away from my family until I noticed it was getting dark and had no idea where I was".

All the while Bumbly was getting to know his new friend Sen, his family were very worried indeed and decided to take different paths to try and find him. It was not an easy job. Along the way Bumbly's family were asking all who crossed their paths had they seen a small bumble bee who looked a little lost. But, no one had seen this little bee. After an exhausting day looking and looking, the bee family returned home in the hope that Bumbly had found his way home, unfortunately no sign of Bumbly.

Meanwile, Sen, Bumbly's new friend was trying to keep the situation in a positive mood by trying to get Bumbly to tell her where he lived, but of course being so young Bumbly was still learning to use his navigation skills and was uncertain which direction he came from. Of course both Bumbly and Sen had to shelter from the heavy rain as their wings were no good to them soaking wet. As they sat in their shelter Bumbly began to hum a little tune his Mother sang to him as a baby, it was such a lovely tune and in no time Sen too was singing along with him. 

At last the rain stopped and the sun came out, both friends were very happy as this was their chance to dry off and get on their way. Sen was sad to leave Bumbly but she had her own path to take and so said her goodbyes. Alone again Bumbly started his journey and tried to find his way back. Along the way a swarm of bees were making their way to forage for food. Bumbly thought he would approach them and ask for help, however, this was not a good move as the other bees saw Bumbly as an intruder and started to attack him. Confused and frightened and again on his own, Bumbly set off in what he thought was the direction he should take according to the sun. 

Another nightfall and Bumbly had to find a safe place to stay for the night. He did find a rather large leaf to shelter under and settled in for the night. Morning arrived and the sun shone bright in the sky. Bumbly had to find his home and this time he was so determined to do so he did not think of any dangers that might befall him, so, off he set once more feeling he was going in the right direction. 

Having buzzed along for what seemed forever, Bumbly was hovering over this meadow full of beautiful flowers and he stopped to drink the nectar to give him energy, when he looked up into the sky he saw a group of bees coming straight for him. He was ready this time to defend himself and prepared for battle. As the bees approached he heard a loud humming noise to discover it was his family triumphant they had found their little Bumbly. It was a very happy and joyful reunion, even the siblings were delighted to have him back and so they all flew back to their home contended to know they were all back together again.

Bumbly had grown up very quickly in the time he was apart from his family, and decided that he would be very careful not to wander away too far until he was an adult and able to use his navigation skills properly.   Clever little Bumbly bee.  The end.