Bee Diversity


Bee Diversity



Sitting outdoors having a quick cup of mint tea... with my wicked treat of a spoon with a bit of melting dark mint chocolate precariously posed on the rim. I hear a familiar buzzing... a bee. A bee with good taste - it is flying and hovering around my cup, about to alight on the thick dark melt. Not a good place for bee feet! Its wide, flat legs are the ID giveaway - a worker Honeybee, early in the season.




 Legs are important in the intricate business of bee identity. One in particular is the crazily named Hairy-footed Flower Bee – the male (on the blue Grape Hyacinth/ Muscari) has a yellow face, a very long tongue, which it doesn’t always retract between visits. The female ( on pinkish Pulmonaria/ Lungwort) is all black with orange hind legs. These two plant favourites of the Hairy-foots are vital in any wildlife garden for supplying early nectar.


When you get your eye in, they are regular visitors early in the year and there are lots of them. Also around at this time is the Tree Bumble Bee (on the trellis), and on the apple blossom, a bee that doesn’t look at all like a bee – a Nomada species, a cuckoo bee... which is what it does!





And there are many more surprising bees besides the treasured ancient provider to human delight and diet, the Honeybee. There are miners, leafcutters (as in my last post), masons (Red Mason Bee peering out of its hole in my bee hotel) and lots of distinctive types within each category.

And visiting Spring Japonica and Bergenea... the very familiar big fluffy flyers, Bumble Bees (again, lots of different ones!)...

Come to Hartley Farm Barn and hear about bees - some of them may be visiting your garden...

Have a drink... and maybe even some chocolate? These virtual bees won’t be stealing your sweet melting chocolate!




Credits: Bee ID Steve Smailes; photos Nicolette Scourse

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