Honey Bee | Hainault Forest

Honey Bee

Apis mellifera

TQ4792 06/03/2025 ©Raymond Small

Honey Bees live in large colonies. Far more now nest in man-made hives than live in a natural habitat. Many plants rely on these social creatures for pollination. Sterile females are known as 'workers' and their job is to look after the hive. They clean, guard, gather food and feed the larvae. Males are known as 'drones', their main role is to mate with the Queen. A Queen makes her first flight when she hears a group of drones approaching. Mating occurs in mid-air and the drone immediately dies afterwards. The Queen secretes a substance from her body that the workers lick. The workers then set about building the colony. The bees collect pollen and nectar when flowers start appearing. It takes twelve Honey bees their whole life to make one teaspoon of honey. Whether the honey is clear, opaque, soft or runny, depends on the flowers that they have been visiting. Bees belong to the order Hymenoptera which also contains ants, wasps and sawflies. Some such as Honey Bees and Bumblebees are social creatures living in colonies, but more than 90% of other Bees are solitary.

TQ4792 04/03/2019 ©Raymond Small

TQ4793 28/03/2022 ©Raymond Small

TQ4793 14/07/2022 ©Michael Trump