What are the different bee species?

Honeybees

There is only one type of European honeybee, distinguished by its black slim body with goldenamber stripes. Honeybees have been domesticated for centuries and are rarely found in the wild. In any hive there are up to 40,000 bees of three types: a single queen, thousands of female worker bees and, in the summer, hundreds of male drones, who are evicted in the autumn to die. Unlike bumblebees, honeybees overwinter as a colony, living off the food stores they produced during the summer. They make far more honey than is needed, and so the excess is taken by beekeepers for human consumption. Female honeybees can sting if they feel threatened, so don’t stand in front of a hive… bumblebees Rounded, furry and friendly looking, bumblebees don’t make honey as such, but are hugely important pollinators. According to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, total fruit production is doubled if bumblebees are used as opposed to other pollination interventions, and almost every tomato you have ever eaten was pollinated by them. There are 24 different types of native bumblebee, and their nests contain up to 400 bees. In gardens, bumblebees tend to nest in relatively undisturbed areas such as shaded corners. Some will also nest under structures such as sheds. Leave the nests alone if possible, as they will die out at the end of summer and rarely sting.

solitary bees There are 225 species in the UK, including the red mason and leaf cutter. As their name suggests, they do not live in colonies, produce honey or have a queen. They tend to be smaller and live in holes in walls or the ground – consider buying a Bee Brick, as shown. Solitary bees drink nectar directly from the flower and spend most of their time collecting pollen, which is mixed with a small amount of nectar as food for their young. This makes them fantastic pollinators, and more efficient than honeybees. They do not swarm and rarely sting. When they do it is weak as they don’t have a hive and so haven’t evolved this defence. Their numbers decrease over the summer and their nests should be left alone.