Bees

Mining bees (genus Andrena) are medium-sized bees, between 8 and 17 mm long—about the size of a shirt button. Most are fuzzier and darker than honeybees, with quite broad and often fuzzy looking faces. They are gentle and rarely sting.

True to their name, mining bees dig burrows in the ground to create nests. Unlike honeybees or bumblebees, they are solitary and don’t live in colonies. They typically have one generation per year, and adults are only active for a few weeks. Their presence is an indicator of healthy soil and a thriving ecosystem.

Because they emerge early in the year, they play a vital role in pollinating fruit trees like apples, cherries, and plums, often before honeybees are active. Many Andrena are specialists, visiting only a single or a few closely related plants.

Bumblebees (genus Bombus) are found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. Their colonies are smaller than those of honeybees, having as few as 50 individuals and a single queen in a nest.

Bumblebees have round bodies covered in soft hair, making them appear and feel fuzzy. Like some wasps, they have aposematic (warning) colouration, often of contrasting bands of colour. Female bumblebees can sting repeatedly, but generally ignore humans and other animals.

Like their relatives, the honeybees, bumblebees use their long hairy tongues to lap up plant liquid (nectar) while gatherig pollen to feed their young. They forage using colour and spatial relationships to identify flowers to feed from. Bumblebees are important agricultural pollinators, so their decline, caused by habitat loss due to mechanisation of agriculture, and pesticides, is a cause for concern.

Sweat bees (family Halictidae) are a diverse group, found worldwide. They’re named for their attraction to human perspiration — they drink salt from sweat, which provides essential minerals. Though they sometimes land on people, they’re generally gentle and sting only if handled roughly.

Some species are solitary, while others form small colonies with a simple social structure — an early step toward the complex societies of honeybees. Most nest in the ground, preferring sunny, bare soil, though some use rotting wood or plant stems.

Despite their small size (4—10 mm), sweat bees are important pollinators of wildflowers, fruits, and vegetables. Active from spring through fall, sweat bees are indicators of ecological health. However, like other pollinators, they face threats from habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change, making their protection increasingly important for ecosystems and agriculture alike.

Mason bees (genus Osmia) are solitary bees known for their remarkable nest-building skills. Instead of living in hives, each female constructs her own nest, often in hollow stems, wood cavities, or even holes in bricks. They use mud or clay to partition and seal their nesting chambers — a habit that inspired their name.

These bees are among the world’s most efficient pollinators. A single mason bee can pollinate as many flowers as dozens of honeybees, thanks to their habit of carrying pollen loosely on the hairs of their abdomen. This makes them especially valuable for fruit crops like apples, cherries, and blueberries.

Mason bees are 8—14 mm in length, about the same as a honeybee, and larger than sweat bees. They are gentle and rarely sting, making them ideal for gardens and backyard pollination. They’re also early risers in spring, emerging when temperatures are still cool and few other pollinators are active.