Let’s Talk About Bees

Kirsten Harford
19 June 2023

We all know how vitally important bees are to our natural environment, but did you know almost 90% of wild plants and 75% of leading global crops depend on animal pollination? A startling one out of every three mouthfuls of our food depends on pollinators such as bees, and crops that depend on pollination are five times more valuable than those that do not, making them an essential link in our eco-system. Here, we're taking a closer look at the different species of bee you might spot this spring and summertime. We've also included a beautifully illustrated field guide and bee ID cards at the bottom of the page, so you and your little ones can start spotting the many varieties we're lucky enough to have buzzing around our environment.

How we're helping our bees

We feel very strongly about supporting our eco-systems and encouraging wildlife to flourish is so vitally important to our village and ethos; because of this, we’ve installed Green and Blue bee bricks in all of our homes. Made using 75% recycled material from the Cornish China Clay industry, these creations align with our sustainability ethos. Green and Blue are a Cornish born company dedicated to making homes havens for wildlife and to reconnect people with nature. Alongside bee houses, they also bat boxes, bird feeders and hedgehog links, they’ve crafted a modern range of bee houses. Their inventions have been designed to encourage pollinators, help your garden become more bee-friendly, and to provide a safe nesting place for non-swarming solitary bees like red masons and leafcutters. Green and Blue bee houses look great just stood in the garden, but can also be used in place of standard bricks or blocks within building work to create space for solitary bees to nest, we promise you won’t be disappointed. Watching them come and go is fascinating, create a home for nature by purchasing a bee brick.

A lesson in distinction

The easiest way to categorise bees is to put them into two camps: social and solitary. As the name suggests, social bees like to live together in large, well-organised family groups: they build a community. For example, honey bees are social and can live in groups of up to 50,000 in a single hive. The easily recognisable bumblebee are also classed as social, however live in much smaller groups of 50-150. Social insects are highly evolved and engage in a variety of complex tasks not practiced by the multitude of solitary insects. In contrast, solitary bees like to live alone, although they may make their nests in close proximity to each other to discourage predators. They make burrows underground or create holes in rock faces, old wood and even masonry. Both social and solitary bees have a queen, who will lay all of the eggs for the group, however female social bees will allow worker bees to help with the young, whereas solitary bees will do this alone.

Varieties of social bees

While there are many different species to delve into, we’re focusing on the most common you might spot when in the garden or out and about on a walk. These are easily identifiable and great to point out to little ones to begin nurturing a deep appreciation of our super pollinators. One of our most common types of bumblebee is the common carder bee, bombus pascuorum, which enjoy feeding on a wide range of flowers therefore can be seen in a vast range of habitats – these bees stand out as they’re covered in fox-red fur and lack a white tail. The red-tailed bumblebee, bombus lapidarius, nests underground and can be seen almost anywhere and everywhere from early spring through to autumn – as the name suggests, this bee has a red tail that stands out against a solid black body. The white-tailed bumblebee, bombus lucorum, is very widespread and can be seen feeding on flowers until as late as November – possibly the most easily recognised of all, with a striped black and yellow body and bright white tail.

Varieties of solitary bees

The ashy mining bee, andrena cineraria, feeds from a variety of spring flowers and shrubs including buttercups, hawthorn, blackthorn, gorse and fruit trees – this bee has striking black and grey or white markings and excavates small tunnels in the earth which they close the “door” to when finished foraging for the day. The red mason bee, osmia bicornis, can often be spotted in gardens as they enjoy the nectar from domestic flowers – a small, gingery coloured bee that nests in cliffs and the crumbling mortar of old buildings amongst other hollowed out spaces. The tawny mining bee, andrena fulva, is on the wing from April through to June to coincide with flowering fruit trees such as cherry, pear and apple – the tawny bee has a reddish-brown body with a striped tail and nests underground in flowerbeds and lawns: their nests are visible from little volcano-like mounds of soil near the mouth of the burrow. We’ve included many more species of both social and solitary bees along with beautiful illustrations in the downloadable ID cards at the bottom of this page.

Local Cornish honey

For those with a sweet tooth, we’ve listed our favourite Cornish honey producers:

For the art lovers amongst you, a visit to the bee mural at Biddicks Court in St Austell is a must. The concept for the mural was created by Parasite Ceramics and is designed to celebrate Cornwall’s native honey bee and emphasise the importance of sustainability and the environment. This striking and collaborative Whitegold Project ceramic commission is hoped to be an enduring legacy – made for the town, of the clay which is part of its foundations. The yellow glazed tiles depict 11 icons, selected by the local community to symbolise St Austell and the town’s favourite landmarks, which are: the clay country sky tip, the Gribben, mackerel, sheep, pasties, waves, hearts, sun, mines, boats and sunflowers.

Related articles

Book a Visit

Get in touch today to arrange a visit.
We're excited to meet you!

    Any questions?

    Get in touch with your enquiry about
    West Carclaze Garden Village.
    We'll be happy to assist.

      Press Enquiry

      We'd be happy to help with any press enquiries.