INSECTS

HYMENOPTERA / BEES

Western Honey Bees Apis mellifera live in large colonies. Sterile females are known as 'workers' and their job is to look after the hive. They clean, guard, gather food and feed the larvae. Males are known as 'drones', their main role is to mate with the Queen. A Queen makes her first flight when she hears a group drones approaching. Mating occurs in mid-air and the drone immediately dies afterwards. The Queen secretes a substance from her body that the workers lick. The workers then set about building the colony.

Wood-carving Leafcutter Bee  Megachile ligniseca is a large summer-flying solitary insect that nests mainly in deadwood often utilising holes in fence posts and wooden picnic tables. Leaves are carried into the nest which used are build cells in which their larvae live.

Forest Cuckoo Bumblebee Bombus sylvestris

Yellow-legged Mining Bee Andrena flavipes

Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris

Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum

Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum

Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius

Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum is a short-tongued species sometimes found visiting bramble flowers. Queens, workers and males are similar in appearance, except Queens are larger. February is the month when Queens start emerging from hibernation to establish nests, then after about six weeks workers appear. Nests contain up to 150 workers. Males are produced towards the end of the nesting period two to three months later. Large groups of males fly near nest entrances waiting for new Queens which they can mate with.

Gooden's Nomad Bee Nomada goodeniana normally appears in spring, flying from April until June, when it is seen visiting flowers for nectar. A new generation emerges in July and August. This is a cuckoo species which lays eggs in nests of Andrena bees. It does not make a nest of its own.