Bees

 

For some, the idea of attracting bees to your garden with bright flowers or artificial feeding posts is their worst nightmare. Bee phobias are generally from childhood memories or being stung when younger. Bees sting generally because it is a defensive reaction or an action needed in their feeding or reproductive regime.

Bees are of great benefit to gardeners, especially those growing fruit and vegetables as they pollenate plants enablint hem to grow fruit.

There are over 25,000 species of bees in the world and 254 species of wild bees in the UK of which about a quarter are on the 'endangered' list. To give you an idea of how important bees are, around 80% of the food which we buy is there because bees have been instrumental in the pollenation process.

Bees are pretty amazing creatures, living in colonies of around 50,000 individulas. They travel up to 6.5km (4 miles) in order to collect nectar and pollen from flowers. To produce a single jar of honey, it is estimated that bees travel the equivilant of three times round the world.

Bee types

Honey Bee Apis mellifera

As the name suggests, these are the bees renowned for producing honey which humans have harvested for many hundreds of years. They are a highly social and highly organised insects which become active in Spring. Colonies can live many years due to the fact that the colony lives on food which has been stored through good times. In winter, drines die off since their role to reproduce is no longer necessary for the season. The remaining bees will gather together throughout cold spells to keep warm.

Bumble Bee

Queens emerge from hibernation in Spring and feeds on nectar from plants in flower, pollenating them as they go. Later the queen will find a nest site and builds a saucepan like cell of wax, laying several eggs in it. These eggs she looks after and they emerge as worker bees taking over the job of nursing and feeding.

Bumble bees never swarm like honey bees are generally have less than 70 bees per colony.

As a passing note, killing bumble bees is illegal as they are endangered, with a fine of £25,000 in a Magistrates Court for poisoning them.

Solitary Bee

There are around 200 different species in the UK, most of which do not sting. Adults are generally seen only for 6 to 8 weeks during their breeding cycle which coincides with plants flowering. Again, killing solitary bees as illegal with a fine of up to £25,000.