Never a dull moment when you own a pool, and not because of the wild sex parties (if you have them) but because of the expense, breakdowns, and recurring irritants. Comes a new one: congregating bees.
A (so far) small swarm of them are clustering on the tile surround, just above the water line which makes using the pool worrisome, as you have to stay away from that part and the bees hovering around it.
Seems they are gathering water to cool the hive. Which is not surprising since it was 103 F today and has been in the triple digits for more than a week now. Apparently the nectar gathering which nature programs bees for has been interrupted by the dry, hot spring leading to fewer flowers than usual.
Mrs. Charm is experimenting with the advice here of creating a separate water source for the bees and gradually moving it farther and farther from the pool. If that doesn’t work, we’ll skip green and go for the insecticide with a bug bomb. But that might only force them to move to another part and gradually drive us from the pool as well.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
I make no scientific claim, but I never saw a swarm of bees until I started hearing about how they are going extinct. After which time, I’ve run across three swarms.
jd
JD, I’ve heard the honey bees (which these are) are threatened by fungus diseases, but not that they are going extinct.
The swarming does seem unusual anywhere beyond the hive. But the link below (from the “Children of the Corn,” but their entomology department) says honey bee swarms are not unusual this time of year.
http://entomology.unl.edu/beekpg/beeswarm.shtml
Insecticide should resolve that one.
So far we’re trying the green solution, a bowl with pool water around a peak of moist sand for the beasties to congregate on. Set near their spot on the pool wall as an alternative. The idea then being to gradually move the bowl away from the pool and hope they follow it. Hasn’t worked yet, but we’ll give it a day or two more before starting the chemical warfare.