Please refer to links to the
right hand side for more specific information. Below is
general types of bee information.
Honey Bees
If you have a swarm of honey bees arrive in your garden,
you will see a large cloud of bees in the air and they
will settle on a tree, hedge or wall and form a large
cluster as large as a rugby ball. Keep children and pets
indoors but once settled they are not likely to attack
any one provided you do not disturb it.
These can be collected by a local beekeeper and safely
re-hived. Contact your local Bee Keeping
Swarm Officer who will be able to arrange collection
of the swarm. We do not collect Bumble-bees and Wasps,
so please ensure you try to correctly identify them
before making your call.
If you contact your local beekeeping association
secretary, they some times have a list of
beekeepers who collect swarms, but they are only available to
collect a swarm of honey bees and not other insects such
as bumble bees or wasps, so get them properly
identified, more information by clicking on the link
below.
The local police station and your local council might have
a list of beekeepers who can collect swarms.
Bumble Bees
These are large, noisy and colourful. In the spring the
large queen bee starts her nest alone just like the queen
wasp. She will make a small cluster of cells and lay her
eggs in them, when her daughters hatch out they will help
her build the nest and collect pollen and nectar from the
flowers in the area. The nest might be under a shed, in a
compost heap, a pile of grass cuttings, or any where nice
and dry, they sometimes take over an old mouse nest or even
a bird box.
If you feel that it has to go just remember that they will
all disappear at the end of summer and the nest can then be
safely removed if you wish to, they do not cause any damage
and are best left alone since they are difficult to
re-establish once moved.
Bumble bees are very important pollinators as they will
visit flowers that other bees might not.
The Bumble bees only have enough honey and pollen to help
them build their colony and keep ticking over, unlike the
honey bees, they do not over winter. So they do not have
any surplus to give to us.
Bumble bees do have a sting but rarely use it, she will
only use it to defend their nest or if she has been trapped
causing her to over react.
Solitary Bees (eg:
Masonry Bees, Mining Bees and Leaf Cutting Bees)
These might make holes in the lawn, walls, stones or in the
ground to lay their eggs. They suddenly appear in the
spring and cause a bit of concern but as fast as they
arrive they, soon disappear. The worry about any structural
damage being done is unnecessary, because they do not
attack sound mortar. They will find soft material or
natural holes or crevices to tunnel in to and lay their
eggs