Probably the best known bee, the honeybee's honey has been used by humans for thousands of years. In the wild they live in wooded areas in large hives made of wax honeycombs. The queen lays eggs whilst the workers care for the young, almost like a giant bee nursery! Every year a new queen will either take the place of her mother, or she will leave to start a colony of her own.

How to identify 

The familiar black-and-gold honey bee is almost unmistakeable. There are several species of hoverfly that look similar, but they have much larger eyes.

 

Did you know? 

A single bee hive may contain as many as 50,000 individuals. In winter, the hive goes into survival mode: the drones are expelled, the workers huddle together to keep warm, and the larvae are fed on stores of pollen and honey. In spring, a new generation of bees emerges.

 

Relocation

A honey bee swarm is looking for a new nesting site. Our our local bee keepers will capture a swarm safely by placing a suitable container, such as an empty beehive, on the ground below the swarm and dislodge the bees at the entrance to the hive. The bees will begin to move into the hive which can be removed to our local beekeeper's apiary. You can observe the bees scent-fanning at the entrance to signal the entrance to the new nest as the bees march into their new home. If for some reason the queen does not go into the new hive, the bees will abandon it and form a cluster where she lands.