2 MILLION BLOSSOMS


Northern Hemisphere. Many are distinctively colored; in Eu- rope most have bright yellow stripes and red, white, or rusty brown bottoms, while in the United States the differentiating colored stripes are typically near the thorax and the ends are black. These early queens will look to build nests, often in


T 92


here are 26 different types of bumble bee in the UK, and you might easily see ten of them in your garden if you look closely enough. Globally, there are 250 species, mostly found in the temperate


old mouse holes in the ground, where they will rear young worker bees which eventually take over the foraging for food. The nests grow through the spring, produce new queens and males in summer, and then die off. Our honey bees also start to venture out from their hives


in search of food in early spring, so long as the air is warm enough. In my experience many members of the public think that these are the only bees, responsible for pollinating everything, though if asked to draw a bee they usually pro- duce something round with yellow and black stripes, looking suspiciously like a bumble bee. Even experienced beekeepers often fail to appreciate the staggering diversity of wild bees and other pollinators; there are also leafcutter bees, sweat bees, mason bees, mining bees, carpenter bees and many more. Globally, there are an astonishing 20,000 known spe- cies of bee (and no doubt many more yet to be described by science, for nine more bees from Texas were added to the list last summer). The large majority are solitary creatures in which a female makes her own small nest, rather than living in a colony with a queen and workers as do honey bees and bumble bees. Most people go their whole lives without ever even noticing these little creatures, yet they live all around us,     While bees are the best known of pollinators, and they


get the lion’s share of the attention (particularly honey bees), 


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100