ABOUT BEES
Honeybees have continued to fascinate man from the very earliest of times. Man first hunted for wild honeycomb in hollow trees and rock crevices.

The pharaohs of Ancient Egypt were sent off to their eternal journey to the after-life with pots of honey. They recognised the bee hieroglyph to mean both ‘Egypt’ and ‘King.’ Honey was the food of the rich and noble.

Egyptians also discovered that honey was an excellent medium for embalming their dead.

Great philosophers and physicians such as Aristotle and Hippocrates were fascinated by the industrious bees.

Throughout history this small insect has provided a link with major civilisations and religions throughout the world.

Honeybees are ‘social’ insects that live in large and well-organised colonies, producing food both for immediate use and to store for winter consumption. It is these stores that attract predators, chief of which, of course, is man.

The honeybee gathers nectar with its tongue and carries it in a ‘honey stomach’ to the hive or nest. There, the nectar is passed to worker bees, who prepare it for storing by adding enzymes. As the worker bees transfer the nectar to a wax storage chamber, water is evaporated away, and it is this process, combined with the enzyme activity, that turns the nectar into honey.

Interesting facts:

• Bees have been producing honey for about 150 million years. Early humans first appeared about 2 million years ago.

• There can be as many as 60 thousand bees in a hive at the height of the season.

• A queen bee can lay up to 2,000 eggs a day – equivalent to her own body weight!

• Male bees have a mother, no father but they do have a grandfather!

• Bees will fly a 3 mile radius of the hive to collect pollen and nectar. That is just over 28 square miles!

• In the course of herlifetime, a worker bee will produce one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey.

• To produce 1lb of honey, worker bees visit approximately 2 million flowers and fly the equivalent of one & half times round the world ( ie about 55,000 miles!)

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Bee and Wasp Identification

With over 300 species of bees and wasps in the British Isles and more arriving from Continental Europe as temperatures increase it is sometimes difficult to make positive identifications and to assess the risk of what
can be a dangerous insect or totally harmless.

We have converted the Identification Table to PDF so
it is easy for you to download.

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Health Benefits

Honey, a rich source of carbohydrates, provides a quick source of energy.
Research has shown that unlike most other sweeteners, honey contains small amounts of a wide array of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and antioxidants.

One Word of Caution

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