Honeybees flying at night?

Folks - I was surfing this forum at 10.50 hours tonight, (a few mins ago). It has been fully dark for over an hour and I live in the country side. The weather has been fine and the night is warm and dry. My hives are 70 meters away from my house. A honey bee flew in our door into our house and has been going nuts around the ceiling light in the middle of the sitting room.
What are honeybees doing flying at night ??
What are they using to assist in navigation if the sun is gone - it cannot be too good to say they landed into the sitting room !?
Can any one throw light on this please.

mine do the same.

Is that enough light thrown for you Jimy

Jimy Dee said:

What are they using to assist in navigation if the sun is gone
Can any one throw light on this please.

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The lights in your house.

They think it's the sun. High temperature things like galogens are worse because of the UV.

Ahaa, I now see the light. BUT WHAT ARE THEY DOING OUT ??

Jimy Dee said:

Ahaa, I now see the light. BUT WHAT ARE THEY DOING OUT ??

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It's not THEY Jim ... it's ONE bee - she probably saw the light when she was sitting on the hive roof (a few of mine have been doing this in the heat of the last few days) and thought - there's a party going on - best nip down and check it out.

Now ... if you had a room full of bees at this time of night I'd be worrrying !

Thanks P. A lone crusader so.

On a dull cloudy day when the sun isn't out, they still manage to navigate don't they? So what's the difference at night? Just like a bee, I have built up a mental map of my house and walk around it with the lights off at night with just the occasional clue like the microwave clock or the handrail on the stairs for navigation.
You could easily divert me off course with the light from an open fridge door.

Oh and one of my hives seem to fly anytime, they love it! even if its raining heavily. . . so much more fun than staying in and making wax.

Canary Honey said:

On a dull cloudy day when the sun isn't out, they still manage to navigate don't they? So what's the difference at night? Just like a bee, I have built up a mental map of my house and walk around it with the lights off at night with just the occasional clue like the microwave clock or the handrail on the stairs for navigation.
You could easily divert me off course with the light from an open fridge door.

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Perhaps you have seen that bees use to stop foraging and flying before sunset. Mental map or not.

Canary Honey said:

Oh and one of my hives seem to fly anytime, they love it! even if its raining heavily. . . so much more fun than staying in and making wax.

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That cannot be true. Love to fly in rain.... hive is sick
Quite often bees pick drinking water for brood in bad weather, but love it?

+1 to Finman.

Let some cut out these silly suggestions and read a bee book instead.

A few bees on the outsidevof the hive in summer going airborne very locally is one thing. In the depths of winter in ice, snow, rain or high wind the idea would be rediculous. So where does one actually draw the line? If is all in the good bee books. Bees do not expend unnecessary energy. Person has not understood that most flowers do not secrete nectar during the night (a few do, of course - where bats are pollinators per eg) -and many actually close up at night. Thinking before, and not making exaggerated claims, is something that should be learned as a necessary skill.

Canary Honey said:

On a dull cloudy day when the sun isn't out, they still manage to navigate don't they? So what's the difference at night? Just like a bee, I have built up a mental map of my house and walk around it with the lights off at night with just the occasional clue like the microwave clock or the handrail on the stairs for navigation.
You could easily divert me off course with the light from an open fridge door.

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Hi Canary Honey,
Even on an overcast day the bees navigate by the sun's ultraviolet light as it penetrates the cloud cover.

Canary Honey said:

Oh and one of my hives seem to fly anytime, they love it! even if its raining heavily. . . so much more fun than staying in and making wax.

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Manchester bees have no choice but to fly in the rain, or they'd never get anything done!

Canary Honey said:

On a dull cloudy day when the sun isn't out, they still manage to navigate don't they? So what's the difference at night?

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Bees can see polarised light and even when it's cloudy using the polarised light enables them to fix the position of the sun ... They would struggle to navigate any distance at night when there is no sun. Jims bee was probsbly a confused straggler that saw the light source and was attracted to it .

One this second immolated itself on my halogen lamp.