It was lovely to see lots of people come to hear bee expert Trevor Smith talk about Masons, Miners, Leafcutters and Bumblebees.

There are an amazing 270 species of bee in the UK, of which most are solitary and restricted by habitat and geographic location. Some species are specialists only collecting pollen from a single plant family.  Species discussed included Andrena mining, hairy footed flower, scissor, red mason, ivy and cleptoparasitic bees.

Trevor started by giving us an overview of the evolution of bees and their taxonomic families. There was also a photo test (“How many of these are bees?”) – and most of us were caught out by something that looked a lot like a wasp but was in fact a bee! This emphasised a key part of the talk – the tricky bit when monitoring bees is knowing who’s who.  A good ID book with a key is essential to look at wings, hair on bands and colouring, but some need microscopic examination to be sure on certain features.

Trevor was keen to make the point that artificial nest sites (bee hotels) may not be as good as we think if the size of the tube is too big or there isn’t the correct food source near by. Some bees are very picky eaters and, unlike honey bees, bumblebees can’t travel far to find food because they have a limited flight range and .  

Top tip – old bramble stems make great nest sites for mining bees so leave some around your garden.

Bumblebees were covered in some detail with an explanation of their lifecycle, nest sites and food sources.  The common species found here the South East include red tailed, buff tailed, white tailed, common carder, tree, heath and early. Again, ID can be tricky – dysmorphia means the males or females of one species can look a lot like either the males or females of another. A good visual guide is essential. Luckily there’s a really good section on the Bumblebee Conservation website, including an easy-to-use pictorial guide.

Judging by the huge round of applause at the end, everyone who attended thought this was a very informative talk which left us with lots to think about.

For more information, take a look at the Bumblebee Conservation website – https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org