More Solitary Bees Stuff

Pay attention, I have some questions for you.


[1] - How many types of honey bee are there in the UK?
[2] - How many types of bumblebee are there in the UK?
[3] - How many types of bee are there in the UK?


The answers are here and I'll wait a minute for you to check your answers and get back.

Welcome back.

Its a bit surprising isn't it?
As I said in an earlier blog despite not actually knowing what they look like, most people consider 'bees' to be honey bees, whereas by numbers of species, solitary bees are far more numerous.
Confusingly solitary bees come in lots of different shapes, sizes and colours and some very difficult to tell apart from honey bees and bumblebees.

Solitary Bees

More Solitary Bees

The description 'solitary' comes from the way they live and build colonies [Honey bees and bumble bees are called 'social bees']

Whereas honey bees make large permanent colonies, solitary bee nests normally only last a year and are much smaller in size. Also whereas honey bee eggs are looked after by the workers, once a solitary bee egg has been laid, its left to get on with it. 

As well has having booklets on honey bees and what honey bees need that nobody buys, I am thinking of producing a booklet on solitary bees as well. A bit of it will be about the differences between the different types of bee and a draft of it can be downloaded here.

I became interested in solitary bees after reading an article headed 'We are worrying about the wrong bees'  which said pretty much what the headline suggests in that the concern people have about 'bees' is mostly directed towards honey bees and to a lesser extent bumble bees, whereas we should be more concerned with solitary bees.

As far as the UK is concerned, honey bees are not at risk and have bee keepers and national/local national associations to fight their corner and bumble bees have the Bumble Bee Conservancy Trust.

Solitary bees however have no public profile at all as [a] they can be difficult to recognise, and [b] don't look like the public perception of a bee i.e. a bumblebee, and crucially [c] they don't produce honey. Therefore much less is known about them and in the National Pollinator Strategy issued by the Government in 2014 it says

Our understanding of the population size of wild pollinator species is limited

and

We have a limited understanding of the abundance of other pollinator species such as bumble bees and hoverflies, and how they are changing.

Incidentally it also says:-

For the honey bee we do have good data. The total number of colonies has increased over the last few years

The odd thing about this is that despite the concern about 'pollinators' [which means honey bees and bumble bees to most people], solitary bees are far better pollinators and a mason bee can do the pollination work of about 100 honey bees. This is because solitary bees 'dive bomb'  plants and cover themselves in pollen which is carried to the next plant. Honey bees groom themselves to produce the distinctive pollen sacs which mean less pollen is transferred from plant to plant but more is taken back to the hive for the larvae.

There appears to be a better appreciation in America of solitary bees which they often call Native Bees as they are native to America whereas the honey bee is an introduced species.

There are lots of resources available for the helping solitary bees and you can buy various kits to house the bees and manage the cocoons to get a better survival rate.

Keeping solitary bees is also seen as an alternative to keeping honey bees as its cheaper, less time consuming and easier for kids to get involved in as they don't sting [the bees not the kids].

So expect some more blogs/videos about solitary bees.

As for the honey bees, things are quiet.There were a few bees flying from one hive in Ravensden a few days ago and tomorrow I'm going to check their food blocks again.

At this time of year sofas are not the only things on sale and I have stocked up with some new stuff, not least the bits I need to make up two hives that are going in the Wildflower Meadow