They are important. https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-09-10/merits-of-native-bees-can-they-save-us/11931224
They are also under threat from imported bee diseases.
roughbarked said:
They are important. https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-09-10/merits-of-native-bees-can-they-save-us/11931224They are also under threat from imported bee diseases.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-08/native-bee-honey-bee-disease-parasite-research-qld/11392606
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
They are important. https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-09-10/merits-of-native-bees-can-they-save-us/11931224They are also under threat from imported bee diseases.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-08/native-bee-honey-bee-disease-parasite-research-qld/11392606
Therefore it is probably quite important to plant flowers that are specifically favoured by local native bee species?
Well I’m doing my bit.
We have two little bee houses.
Anyone else?
The Rev Dodgson said:
Well I’m doing my bit.We have two little bee houses.
Anyone else?
We have lots of native bees around here. They seem to find their own hotels. I don’t recall ever seeing a Eeuropean honey bee here.
From the article in OP..
The Blue-banded Bastard Bee doing it’s worst on Paterson’s Curse
Ian said:
From the article in OP..
The Blue-banded Bastard Bee doing it’s worst on Paterson’s Curse
Or Salvation Jane, depending on where you live…
Tetragonula carbonaria here on the Central Coast. The hive is inside a large hole in the side of an Angophora costata.
“I think beekeepers Australia-wide are looking skywards for some rain because if we don’t get much rain in the next few months, what’s there might not even produce honey,” said Mr Weatherhead.
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/beekeepers-hoping-for-rainfall-to-sweeten-the-beginning-of-honey-season/532449
Ian said:
“I think beekeepers Australia-wide are looking skywards for some rain because if we don’t get much rain in the next few months, what’s there might not even produce honey,” said Mr Weatherhead.https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/beekeepers-hoping-for-rainfall-to-sweeten-the-beginning-of-honey-season/532449
Yeah. We are all hanging out for La Nina and IOD to get their shit together.
Michael V said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
Well I’m doing my bit.We have two little bee houses.
Anyone else?
We have lots of native bees around here. They seem to find their own hotels. I don’t recall ever seeing a Eeuropean honey bee here.
“They seem to find their own hotels.” :) Most Aussie bees are solitary and tend to have their own holiday shack.
In my garden I find that plants such as basil are really good attractants as well as makes good pesto. The blue banded bees iin particular. ;)
If you look there are leaf cutter bees that make their own homes with bits of leaf and those that will use any bit of hollow wood or pipe or hole in brick wall or whatever.
They are really hard workers here on basil.
and
they are big fans of Eremophila, as are the teddy bear bees. They crawl right inside.
oops.. inside Eremophila.
I also get Cuckoo bees. Yes they steal the nests of others such as the blue banded bee. Which is actually a hole drilled in the earth.
The Neon Cuckoo Bee does exactly that. Parasitises the blue banded bee larva.
They are difficult to photograph these native bees but I try and this is the Domino Cuckoo bee which usually parasitises the teddy bear bee.
