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Bees

Bees are one of the most useful insects found in the garden. As they move from plant to plant they pick up and transfer pollen, and this is vital to the fertilisation and growth of plants. Although other insects also help fertilise plants, the work of bees is essential and, without them, the variety and yield of the plants we grow for food and pleasure would be much reduced. The honey bee also produces honey in hives, either in the wild, or in hives made for it by the beekeeper.

Although it is sometimes necessary to destroy bees because they may be a danger in a particular location, it should only be done as a last resort. The risk from bees in the house or garden is small - an occasional sting, and then only if the bee is provoked. Unlike wasps, which can sting repeatedly, a sting from a bee usually causes fatal damage to the bee itself. The serious danger from bees is the rare one of being attacked and stung by large numbers, and this only likely to affect beekeepers or someone who approaches a swarm of honey bees.

BUMBLE BEE

Everyone is familiar with the striped colours of the bumblebee, but not all bees are so brightly marked.

There are several species of this bee, and they are distinguished by size and by the different colours of stripes on the body. Bumble bees make small nests which vary in size, from about that of a tennis ball, to the size of a pineapple. The nest is often in the ground or in a compost heap.

The queen hibernates over the winter then, in spring, very large bumble bees, (the queens), can be seen in the garden. The worker bees seen through the summer are smaller, but as the autumn approaches some new queens appear, and these will go into hibernation to come out in the following spring, and start the cycle over again.

HONEY BEE

By comparison with the bumble bee, the honey bee is dull - the body is black, the stripes are barely visible, and the whole body is much more slender than the bulky bumble bee. The life cycle is also different. Very large numbers of honey bees live in a single hive, where the queen lays her eggs. Almost all the other bees are sterile female workers. They gather pollen and nectar, which they bring back to the nest to feed the young grubs. The surplus nectar is turned into honey and, when winter approaches, the numbers of bees diminish, but the hive will live through the winter, feeding on its store of honey. There is only one queen in each hive, but sometimes, if the hive becomes too crowded, a new queen will emerge, and the original queen will leave the hive, accompanied by, perhaps, half of the workers. This is a "swarm" of bees, a large, frightening buzzing mass of insects. The swarm is looking for a new home -a hollow tree trunk, a chimney pot, etc. While the scouts are exploring, the queen and the swarm will hang on a fence or the branch of a tree. Beekeepers and pest control operators can handle and collect swarms, but it is not a job for the inexperienced. The bees in a swarm can become very bad tempered, and may attack in large numbers anyone who approaches them. If the swarm is a danger, and cannot be collected, it may be necessary to destroy it.

MASONRY BEE

Masonry bees live in holes which they dig in soft mortar in walls. Although a number of bees may infest a wall, there is no central nest - each bee digs its own tunnel in the mortar. The cure for masonry bees is to rake out the soft mortar and repoint the brickwork with a harder mortar that the bees cannot excavate. Spraying the wall with pesticide is not a cure - when the pesticide wears off the bees may return. Masonry bees are unlikely to sting even if provoked