Bees
Bumble bees, honeybees and solitary bees can all be found in British gardens. The following information may be useful to distinguish between the species.
|Bumble Bees
Bumble bees have round, furry bodies with football style black and orange coats and a bumbling flight making them easy to identify. Bumble bees are not kept in hives. The 'queen' hibernates over winter then will look for a suitable nesting site in spring (such as old bird's nest, compost heap etc.), where she will raise her offspring. Each nest consists of a large queen together with female worker bees and tiny male or drone bees. Only queen and worker bumble bees have a sting.
A bumble bee colony never amounts to more than a few hundred individuals and does not swarm. During late summer and autumn fully fertile male and females are produced which mate. The fertilised females hibernate until the following year while the remainder die in the cold weather.
Bumble bees are relatively harmless and normally don't sting unless their life is under threat. They are valuable to the environment as pollinators.
|Honeybees
Honeybees are kept by beekeepers but can also live in the wild. They are similar in size to wasps but are mainly black (sometimes with a tan banding). They are always found in colonies (individuals cannot survive alone), are headed by a queen, and will survive over-winter.
Honeybees can be seen in the garden collecting nectar and pollen. They may also be seen around wet areas such as dripping taps and ponds - bees do need to drink. In most cases they are harmless and will fly away if disturbed.
Colonies totalling as many as 20,000 bees can and will swarm. The noise of a bee swarm can be alarming but the danger is not very great. The swarming bees will cluster, possibly on a tree branch, and should be collected by an experienced beekeeper (contact your local Environmental Health Department or the police if a beekeeper is not known to you). Honeybees can sting, especially if you venture close to their hive.
Honeybees are valuable as pollinators of a wide range of flowers and crops, they also produce honey and beeswax.
For useful information and local beekeepers see |British Beekeepers' Association or |Kingston Beekeepers.
|Solitary Bees
There are around 250 species of solitary bee in Great Britain. They resemble honeybees but do not live in colonies.
They construct cells, usually in sandy soil, in which they lay a single egg, fill it with pollen and seal. When the larvae hatch they consume the pollen within the cell, pupate and emerge as a bee the following year.
Solitary bees are useful pollinators, they are harmless and do not swarm.
Bee Advice
- Do not disturb or interfere with bees. Seek further advice.
- Bees may sting when threatened or disturbed.
- If a bee stings you, scratch rather than pull the sting out.
- Don't panic and wave your arms wildly in the presence of bees. Try to stand quietly and once they discover you are neither food nor flower they should move away.
- If you react badly to bee or wasp stings, seek immediate medical advice.
- Only honeybees swarm. Bumble bees, solitary bees and wasps do not.
- Many of the UK's bees are dying from unknown causes. One in three honey bee colonies in the UK have been lost during the past few years. The UK's bumblebees are also suffering because there aren't enough wild flowers for them.
|Pest Control
Elmbridge Borough Council provides a pest control service for the treatment of wasp nests but not for bees - however, we can offer advice and give details of local beekeepers or private pest control companies who can safely remove nuisance bees. For further information contact the |Environmental Health & Licensing Division.
