On warm Spring mornings the garden and the bush are a-buzz with the sound of bees. They especially love the catkins on the Salix Daphnoides growing near the rainwater tank (thank you Babs for ‘Bob Press’s Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Europe’).

In bushland areas, native bees gather nectar from a variety of blossoms including those of the Spotted Gum, Stringy Bark, Ironbark, Grey Box and Yellow Box, as well as Banksias, wildflowers and Tea Trees.

Native bees are much more important than you might think.

The following fascinating info is taken from ‘Aussie Bee‘, published by the Australian Native Bee Research Centre.

Native bees are important pollinators of Australia’s unique wildflowers, making them a vital part of the Australian bush.

There are over 1,500 species of Australian native bees, but only 10 of these species are social – with a queen, drones and workers – like honey bees. 

Solitary bees, on the other hand, don’t have a queen. They collect tiny amounts of nectar just to feed their young. Resembling small flies, they’re stingless and they live by their thousands in colonies, often in hollow trees. They make small amounts of honey which they store in small pots resembling bunches of grapes.

Whatever you do, don’t try to extract honey from native bee nests – they need all of it to survive.

While most crops in Australia are pollinated by the commercial honey bee, Apis mellifera, native bees –  because of their size and special behaviour – may be better pollinators of some crops. Stingless bees are efficient pollinators of macadamias, and Blue Banded Bees show potential as pollinators of greenhouse tomatoes.

In Victoria there are seven varieties of native bees:

Reed Bees: over 80 species; slender, tiny; make their nests in dry, woody places, such as blackberries and dead fern fronds

Blue Banded Bees: about 25 species; strips of blue or light coloured hair across black abdomens; seen around lavender and abelia

Teddy Bear Bees: (don’t you just love the name) about 25 species; chubby, banded; nest in shallow burrows in the ground, mudbrick houses and soft mortar

Leafcutter Bees: over 40 species; about 6 to 15mm long; cut neat circles into leaves of roses, buddleia and bauhinia and use the disks for nest building

Resin Bees: about 100 species varying in size and colour; collect resins and gums to build partitions between brood cells and seal their nest holes; nest in pre-existing holes or gaps in timber or stonework

Homalictus Bees: about 44 species; tiny but glamorous – glittering iridescent blue, red, green; dig intricate nests in the ground populated mostly by females

Masked Bees: pale markings on faces, some have yellow spot on thorax; carry pollen by swallowing it; nest in woody stems or pre-exiting holes in wood

So get out there and see what the busy little critters are up to.

But before you go, listen to this.