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Bugs
Western honeybee
Apis mellifera
Slimmer and less furry than a bumblebee, with amber and brown stripes. Watch it dance when it lands.
- Size
- Workers about 1.2cm
- Look for it
- March to October
- Where
- Almost anywhere with flowers; kept by beekeepers
My spotter's list
Hovers, and does the waggle dance on flowers. Move your pointer and see.
Good to know
Six things about the honeybee
DanceThe waggle dance
A bee back from a good patch of flowers dances in the hive. The direction of the waggle shows where the food is, and its length shows how far.
HiveA city of bees
A strong colony in summer can hold 50,000 bees or more, almost all of them female workers.
HoneyA lifetime's work
One worker makes only about a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her whole life.
QueenOne busy mother
The queen can lay up to around 2,000 eggs a day at the height of summer.
StingA one-time sting
A worker's sting is barbed. When she stings a person it usually tears away, and she dies.
WinterThe winter huddle
Honeybees don't hibernate. They cluster together and shiver to keep the middle of the huddle warm, living on stored honey.
The real thing
Photos of the honeybee
Out and aboutHow to spot one
Watch lavender, apple blossom or ivy flowers on a sunny day. Honeybees are slimmer and browner than bumblebees, and work one type of flower at a time.
Lend a handHow to help
Plant single, open flowers rather than frilly double ones, and put out a shallow dish of water with pebbles in it for them to drink from.
Following youLadybird
Who should follow you?
Bees and hoverflies
Butterflies and moths
Dragonflies and damselflies
Beetles, hoppers and ants
Not insects at all
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