Honey bees are familiar to most people, but what about wild bees? In fact, it is precisely the inconspicuous wild bees that are of great value to our nature.
The death of bees has been on everyone's lips for years. But when it comes to bees, many only think of the well-known honey bee - you rarely hear anything about wild bees. It is precisely the native wild bee species that are often particularly threatened. There are many reasons for this, ranging from a decline in their habitat to insufficient food supply to the use of pesticides. But why are wild bees so important? And how can you support endangered wild bee species? We'll tell you that in today's post.
Identify wild bees: What types of wild bees are there?
What kind of insect is that? You have probably asked yourself this question before. In fact, it is not that easy to identify wild bees: just over 550 different wild bee species live in Germany alone. Wild bees include all bee species of the superfamily Apoidea, except for domesticated honey bees. Therefore, there are significant differences in appearance and size between the individual bees. The smallest wild bee (the sand steppe bee) is only 4 mm long, while the blue carpenter bee, as the largest wild bee, reaches an impressive 2.8 cm. How do I recognize wild bees then? Despite their great variability, you can basically tell from a few points whether it is a bee or another insect.
Recognizing wild bees made easy:
- Bees have a three-part body.
- Their head has two clearly visible long antennae.
- Bees have two pairs of wings attached mid to back and on the middle segment of the body. They consist of translucent wing skin streaked with clearly visible veins.
- Bees often show a slight hairiness.
- Bees can be observed collecting pollen or nectar.
Wild bees andHoney bees: Often it is not so easy to distinguish whether you are looking at a wild bee or a honey bee. But if you look closely, you can see two differences between classic honey bees and wild bees: The workers of the honey bees typically have protruding hair on their large compound eyes - this only occurs in the wild bees in the cone bees. In addition, the honey bee lacks the spur on the rail of its hind legs, which is always present in native wild bee species.
Life cycle of wild bees
As different as the different wild bee species look, their ways of life are also different. In addition to the classic forager bees, which feed on nectar and pollen, there are also so-called cuckoo bees, which sneak into the nests of other bee species and kill the offspring there and eat the supplies. It is therefore not that easy to make general statements about the life cycle of wild bees. Nevertheless, we have compiled and answered the most frequently asked questions on the subject.
Where do wild bees live?
Wild bees are among the most species-rich groups in the insect kingdom and are distributed almost worldwide. Numerous native wild bee species are also at home in Germany. The habitat of the wild bees can look very different: In addition to richly structured forest edges, meadow orchards and grassland, some wild bees also use dry walls, cliffs and steep edges or the edges of water as habitats. Many native wild bee species are highly specialized, so they can only be found in habitats with special characteristics.
Tip: Wild bees particularly like to settle near a suitable source of food. Therefore, creating a wildflower meadow is a good first step in encouraging these fascinating insects. For example, you can create a diverse and long-flowering meadow with our Plantura beneficial insect magnet, which contains over 20 different, knee-high flowers.
How do wild bees live?
General statements about the way of life of wild bees are difficult to make, because there are actually four different ways of life among wild bees. Solitary bees, also known as hermit bees, build their nests without the help of other bees and also take care of themalone for their brood. Each nest therefore accommodates only one female, who alone takes care of the 4 - 30 brood cells. Social bees, on the other hand, are more reminiscent of the classic way of life of honey bees, as many are familiar with them. Here the bees live together in communities and are in close contact with each other. Depending on the wild bee species, these communities can have a few bees or several thousand individuals and have a hierarchy of varying severity. The communal wild bees are located in the middle between the solitary and the social bees. Here, two or more females of the same generation often live together in a nest, but only take care of their own brood cells. The cuckoo bees mentioned above have the last way of life - they nest in the nests of other bees and steal the supplies there.
How long do bees live?
Most native wild bee species in Germany are so-called univolent species. This means that there is only one generation per year. The adult bees often only live about four to six weeks - they use this time for reproduction and the creation of brood cells with the necessary food supply for their offspring. The larvae of the wild bees then hibernate well protected in their nest, where they hatch as adults the following spring and reproduce again.
Wild Bee Nests
Nests of wild bees are basically similar in structure to those of the honey bees we know: The basic element of every wild bee nest are the brood chambers, which are strictly separated from each other by partitions and serve as a place for a bee to develop from egg to adult. However, if you take a closer look at the nest of wild bees, you will immediately notice that there are many differences here as well. Depending on the wild bee species, the wild bee nests differ not only in size, but also in architecture, the choice of nesting site and the materials used.
Where do wild bees nest in nature?
Native wild bee species are more or less specialized in their choice of nesting sites - this means that different wild bees only build their nests in places with species-specific characteristics. These nesting places can look very different: many wild bees build their nests in the ground,other wild bees, on the other hand, use tree trunks or plant stalks. Nesting places in cavities of stones or rocks and snail shells are also known. If there is no suitable place in the area, some wild bee species also accept a nesting aid for wild bees.
When do wild bees nest?
In contrast to the honey bee, which reproduces almost throughout the entire warm season, wild bees often nest only once a year. Immediately after the wild bees have hatched, the mating season begins, which is usually followed immediately by the brood business. Exactly when this begins depends heavily on the wild bee species: wild bees are roughly divided into spring, early summer, midsummer and autumn species depending on their occurrence. However, the time of incubation can also be pushed forward or backward by several weeks due to the weather.
How do wild bees nest?
The way wild bees build their nest is strongly linked to their choice of nest site. Wild bee nests in the ground are often dug by bees themselves. Many bee species also gnaw their tunnels themselves into pulpy stalks and rotten wood. Other native wild bee species make life easier for themselves and use existing cavities in the earth, in rocks or in wood. Free-standing nests are particularly fascinating - these are often built by the bees themselves from resin or mineral or vegetable mortar in a suitable place.
How do wild bees build their nest?
Not only the right nesting place has to be found, the nest also has to be expanded from the inside. Many wild bee species also line their brood cells from the inside with a secretion from their abdominal or salivary glands. Other types of bees, on the other hand, use sand, clay or small stones as well as parts of plants to expand their nest from the inside. Plant mortar is also a popular raw material for building the cells inside the nest. Similar to the honey bee we know, bumblebees have taken a special path: With their abdominal glands, they produce a special wax that is used for cell construction.
Do wild bees make honey?
When it comes to wild bees, the question is often asked whether wild bees also make honey. This question is often answered with noanswered, but in fact this answer is not entirely true: bumblebees, which also belong to the wild bees, do indeed produce honey - but in such small quantities that it is not usable by humans.
Can wild bees sting?
Purely physically it is possible for most bee species to sting. However, the danger of a sting in wild bees is often significantly lower than in honey bees. Solitary bees in particular are less willing to sting, since they alone are responsible for caring for the brood - the sting and thus the loss of their own life is therefore only conceivable as a last resort for the bees. On the other hand, bees that live in large colonies, like honey bees, sting more often because they often have more aggressive nest defenses.
Why are bees important in the garden?
Similar to honey bees, wild bees are also essential for biological diversity as they play the role of pollinators. In fact, wild bees are even more important in this role than honey bees: Due to their specialization in certain plant species, they are an important key to the conservation of many native plant species, as they have adapted precisely to them through evolutionary events. But many cultivated plants are also pollinated by bees, including wild bees. This not only ensures the propagation of our crops, but also has an impact on the harvest volume. And here, too, there are plants that can only be pollinated by wild bees: did you know that tomatoes, for example, cannot be pollinated by honey bees, or only with difficulty? Since the pollen is very tight in the pollen sacs, they have to be shaken out by vibration - this is best done by the bumblebee, which is one of the wild bees.
Through the presence of wild bees in the garden, you can not only maintain diversity, but also improve your own harvest. In addition, wild bees, in contrast to honey bees, fly much earlier and also under more adverse conditions: Honey bees only start to fly at a temperature of 12 °C, and they prefer to stay in their nest even when it is raining and windy. Many wild bee species, on the other hand, fly much earlier, so the horned mason bee can already be observed at 4 °C. Especially in colder years, early bloomers are therefore mainly dependent on the pollination of wild beesinstructed.
Settle and support wild bees
The ongoing strong decline in numerous wild bee species worries many people, after all wild bees are indispensable for our ecosystem. In particular, the decline in suitable habitats or the lack of suitable food plants ensure that the number of bees is constantly falling. Fortunately, garden owners can counteract this: small changes in the garden can make it an attractive habitat, colonize wild bees and thus actively participate in protecting wild bees.
Creating and maintaining nesting opportunities
One problem that many wild bee species face is that they can no longer find a suitable place to nest. It is particularly important to preserve natural nesting sites: dead wood, dry stone walls and stalks containing pulp are great nesting sites for many bees and should therefore be retained in the garden. Wild bees also gratefully accept small, unvegetated horizontal areas with loess loam or drifting sand. Another good alternative is to create nesting aids for wild bees, for example sand lenses, piles of dead wood or wild bee hotels in the garden. But be careful - not every commercially available wild bee nesting aid is actually suitable. Therefore, take a close look when buying.
Tip: Leave the stems of perennials in winter until the plants sprout in spring - these serve as nesting sites for many wild bees.
Create Food Supply
Almost more important than a nesting aid are suitable food plants if you want to settle wild bees in the garden. Since most wild bees feed by collecting pollen and nectar, it is important to provide suitable food plants for the wild bees. Important here: Many wild bee species have specialized in certain plant species, which is why native plants are primarily considered as wild bee plants. In order to address as many different species as possible, it is therefore worth providing a wide selection of forage plants for wild bees. Well suited for this are mixed flower seeds for wild bees such as our Plantura beneficial insect magnet: the different plants with different flowering times offer a particularly wide range of food.
Tip: Wild corners in the garden are a great way to provide shelter and feeding opportunities for wild beescreate. The animals feel at home between dead wood and native wild plants.
No use of sprays
The fact that more and more wild bees are dying out is often associated with pesticides. In fact, many chemical sprays not only kill pests, but also negatively impact beneficial insects like wild bees. In order to protect wild bees, you should therefore keep your distance from chemical sprays and fertilizers in the garden and instead use beneficial alternatives or biological pest control. Information on the harmfulness for beneficial insects can be found in the safety data sheet or the package insert of the respective plant protection product.
Would you like to learn more about bee protection in the garden? You can find a lot of other useful information on this topic in our article 10 tips for a bee paradise in your own garden.