Hear it from the researcher, Tanya Latty; here’s where and when:

Hello Everyone,

First off, I’d like to thank you  all for allowing us to conduct research in your community garden. The data we have collected over the last two summer has been invaluable. I’m happy to announce that I will be presenting the results of our research at two free public talks this month.  Please come along and find out about the native bees in your community gardens. Details are below.

Thank you again!

DATES: 22 and 29th August, 11-12:00
VENUE: St Helen’s community centre,185 Glebe point road, Glebe
COST: Free!

Please RSVP as spaces are limited: tanya.latty@sydney.edu.au

 Cheers,

Tanya

Hi, Tim

My friends S and G have one of your hives and it’s fine.

G has put an empty hive resting above that hive for over a year hoping those in the hive below would populate it but he doesn’t observe any to and froing there.

I wonder if you have any advice for us so we can get the little critters into the empty one, please, Tim?

Thanks,

Michael

We received this reply from Tim:

Hi Michael, S and G,

There is only a very low probability of capturing a swarm of bees from an existing nearby hive into an empty box. There are a few reports of this occurring for Austroplebeia species bees. It is even rarer for Tetragonula species.

It seems that empty boxes are not recognized or accepted by scout bees searching for a location to found a new nest. Perhaps the search cues that bees instinctively use to find and identify a suitable location are not satisfied by the artificial appearance, smell and or feel of a hive box.

But when your hive reaches 8kg, you can use the empty box to split the full one, like I did at Michaels last month.

Regards, Tim

And now I’ve written an article asking, Is climate our dictator?

What do you think?

I’d like to hear from you if you have a moment.

Thanks,

Michael

Honey harvest

Michael Strelan runs his own web tv station, Myecotv.

Michael has just made this beautiful 8 minute video called, Honey Love, showing how to harvest stingless bee honey.

The images of the bees, their hive, their honey and industry bring me as much succour as does the unusual light taste of their honey – as it’s about 70% water it’s very light and elegant to taste.

The vid shows something vital; anyone can harvest native been hives or split them, whether at home, in a unit or at the office.

Slurp . . . go to – and thank you lovely little bees, and you, too, Michael – we love your work,

M

What bees give us and what we’re losing as we kill them with our ‘culture’

Honey harvested yesterday, 16 Oct 13, from my Chippendale native stingless bee hive

Myself and a friend, Tony, anticipating the harvest

Tim and I looking at the honey-full top box of the hive

Yesterday we harvested honey from my native stingless bee hive and it’s in the photo above.

The Australian expert on native stingless bees, Tim Heard, harvested the honey and here are some photos of Tim, his mate, Tony, some of my friends with similar hives and our gathering to witness the ‘how to harvest’.

Michael from myeco.tv… is making a ‘how to’ video to put on our Sustainable Chippendale website – here.  I’ll blog when it’s available.

Tim Heard with stingless bees on his face and body

Tony, Tim’s mate, holding container for honey while I pour it in

For more information on these bees, contact points and the journey here with them over the last four years use the “Bees” tag to search this blog.

There’s also a useful facebook page about research into inner city stingless bees  called Bees in community gardens – here.

Bzzz,

M

NO. 1 RULE: KEEP THEIR ENVIRONMENT POISON-FREE! (Remember – they are insects!)

NO. 2 RULE: PRESERVE BUSHLAND (Biodiversity is the key!) Allowing hoofed animals access, and removing dead wood and trees will soon wipe them out.

Here is a list of plants to feed and attract native bees.

• Austromyrtus dulcis (Midyim Berry) 30cm x 1m. Shade or Sun. Attractive pink new growth and small fruit that tastes like custard and nutmeg.

• Backhousia myrtifolia 6m. Beautiful cream flowers perfumed like honey and nutmeg.

Powdered leaves substitute for nutmeg. Oil from leaves is also a mozzie repellent.

• Baeckea virgata ‘La Petite’ 90cm. Sun or half shade. Weepy. Long flowering.

• Baeckea virgata Dwarf 70cm Sun. Very compact shrub and very hardy.

•  Eucalypts (also attracts small birds) There are dwarf forms. For example, E. maculate

‘Little Spotty’, E. Eximia ‘Nana’, E. curtisii and Grafted Gums).

• Eupomatia laurina Large arching bush with scrambling canes. Sweet scented flowers.

Also attracts many butterflies. Blue-Banded Bees love it.

• Hardenbergia violacea Many forms available – I like the small climbing form. You don’t notice it until it flowers a mass of purple in Spring.

• Leptospermum (Tea Trees) there are many natives to choose from. Try ‘Pacific Beauty’ .

• Melastoma affine and M. polyanthum Native Tibouchina, ‘Blue Tongue’. Mauve flowers very attractive to Blue Banded, and Teddy Bear Bees. Edible fruit that stains your tongue blue. There are dwarf varieties.

• Melaleuca spp. Many – try M. Thymifolia – long-flowering, mauve flwrs 1m.

• Xanthorrohea spp. (Grass Trees)

Lilly Pillies such as:

• Szygium leuhmannii Sun or half Shade. Weeping pink new growth. Red edible berries. Other dwarf forms of S. Leuhmannii ie ‘Lulu’.

• Syzygium australe ‘Compact Form’ 3-4m Sun or Shade. Dense Lush foliage to ground.

Good Screen. Hardy. Edible Fruit. White fluffy flowers.

…and many others such as:

• Boronia

• Bulbine

• Eriostemon

• Goodenia

• Grevillea

• Orthosiphon aristatus (Cat’s Whiskers)

• Phebalium

• Philydrum lanuginosum (Frogsmouth)

• Zieria

Long-tongued bees will favour tubular blooms such as:

• Correa 1-2m (Native Fushia)

• Westringia (ranges from ground covers, to 2m)

• Prostanthera (Mint Bushes – usually around 1-2m)

Long-flowering native plants that are favourites of native bees:

• Brachycome multifida (Cut-leaf Daisy)

• Bracteantha bracteata (Paper Daisies)

Reed Bees Love Australian plants in the Fabaceae family such as:

• Wattles

• Peas

Plants that specifically attract the ‘Buzz Bees’ such as the Teddy Bear, Carpenter and Blue-Banded Bees include:

• Dianella

• Hibbertia scandens (hardy native salt-tolerant climber, Sun or Shade, yellow flowers)

• Leptospermum (T-Tree)

• Macadamia – also the native honey bee Trigona carbonia is important to pollinate the Macadamia!

• Melastoma affine

• Orthosiphon aristatus (Cat’s Whiskers)

• Polyscias spp. (Native Elderberry 2m, Celery Wood 10m, Pencil Cedar narrow, 10m)

• Pomaderris – masses of creamy flower heads are very attractive to native bees, as well as

other insects.

• Westringia

Even dead shrubs and trees are home to many creatures. The metallic-green Peacock Carpenter Bee nests in dead dry flowering stalks of grass trees (Xanthorrhoea) or in soft wood such as Banksia and Leptospermum.

Teddy Bear Bee

Guest Post:      Maree Mc Carthy –  … supporting earth to sing her songs!

In an island continent such as Australia, with soils and organisms evolved distinctly separate from Europe, its great to watch the local ecosystems and see how we can ‘fit in’ and call this place ‘home’. The wonderful part is that native plants, insects and all the other things that have evolved together over an amazingly long time around here are really quite beautiful and fascinating!

I mean have you ever noticed Christmas Bush when flowering and how the native Hover Flies (short-tongued pollinators) are always attracted to it in clouds, and also to many other native plants. Its handy to know that their larvae love to eat aphids too… handy! – but also be aware that they’re extremely sensitive to Pyrethrum and other chemicals.

Another beautiful thing about having native plants around the place is that they attract the Australian Native Bees.

Australia has over 1,500 species ranging in size from 2mm to 24mm. At present there are about 200 species just in the Sydney region alone. Dollin et al. noted that, “In a park in Concord seven species (of native bees) have been seen in half an hour, and over a two year  period a pair of flowering angophoras at Carlingford were visited by at least 35 different species.” (2000:6).

Westringea with native bee and pollen on back legs

One native bee species (Trigona carbonaria) in the Sydney region are stingless (Dollin et al., 2000:15).  They are excellent pollinators of such plants as Macadamia, and Blueberries, and produce extremely valuable honey. Of the rest, none are aggressive, and most are too small to deliver an effective sting.

Unfortunately, urban development has destroyed countless colonies of native bees. However, some have managed to survive in the city – such as the beautiful Blue Banded Bee; the Teddy Bear Bee – often nesting under houses; and the Leaf Cutter Bee which makes the rounded cut from leaves sometimes seen – especially on rose leaves.

As well as a reliable food source, native bees need nesting places, such as:

• natural bushland

• burrows in the ground

• mudbricks,

• holes in dead timber

• dead pithy stems

Callistemon and native bees

Many nests are used year after year. Protecting habitat for native bees will help them to survive. Bees visit flowers for both nectar and pollen, and not necessarily at the same time.

Hover Fly

Some native plants keep their pollen secure and only allow those who know the trick of ‘Buzz pollination’. Carpenter bees of the Xylocopa genus that bore living and breeding tunnels in trees, and the beautiful Blue-banded Bees of the Amegilla genus are privy to this. These bees light on a flower, hold on with their jaws, then shiver the powerful muscles used in flight. The whole body of the bees vibrates so passionately, it buzzes loudly. Sound waves and shock waves excite the flower. Pores in the top of the anthers then burst open and fine pollen spurts all over the bees.

By Maree

… supporting earth to sing her songs!

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES

Australian Native Bee Research Centre PO Box 74, North Richmond. 2754

www.aussiebee.com….au

Dollin, A., and Batley, M., (2000), Native Bees of the Sydney Region, Australian Native Bee Research

Centre.

Anticipation builds here and among those who have bee hives made from the hive that came here four years ago.

In a few weeks we’ll harvest the honey from my hive.  Tim Heard, the designer of the hive, is coming from Brisbane to show me and some other hive owners how to harvest the honey.

I’ll have photos, a video and a ‘how to do it’ of the honey harvest on this blog soon after the honey harvest.

Am planning a little dish to go with the newly harvested honey . . . .

Bzzzzzz, sweet anticipation . . . . yummmm,

m

Solitary bee hive, Myrtle St, Chippendale, NSW

Last night two solitary bee hives appeared outside my house on the little pergola built to train up the native raspberry bushes there.  One has a cute metal roof and the other is also cute – a  bundle of sticks.

Bundle of sticks hive

Solitary bee nesting box

The sign  beside it intrigues me, “Solitary bee nesting box”.

And, “Please do not move or disturb.  Babies are (hopefully) sleeping inside.”

More information is on the facebook page, Bees in community gardens, and describes the research into bee nutrition in the inner city, and other locations of similar hives:  The lead researcher, Tanya Latty, from Sydney University is seeking to find out what inner city bees eat and how it affects their health.

She and her colleagues use the nesting boxes to catch young bees and research what they’re eating.  The little bees are not harmed during the research and are returned to where they were found.

The  hives are  a sign of some of the often unseen life around us, don’t you think?

I’d love to see a solitary bee take home there.

I’ll keep track of the hive and let you know the research results.

Go the little bees,

M

–

After this post Frances Winters commented on my facebook page and asked:

“Yes does solitary mean one bee or one hive? And what does nesting mean? Don’t bees nest in all their hives?”

And Tanya Latty replied on my facebook page:

‘Hi Frances, of the 1600+ bee species in Australia, only a handful (the stingless bees) live in big groups ‘hives’. The rest are solitary; individual females build their own nests, and there are no workers or queens. The single female does all the work of caring for her eggs by herself. Although the bees are solitary, many species don’t mind nesting close to other females. Our solitary bee habitats are like apartment buildings for bees. Each hole is an ‘apartment’ housing a single family of bees.”

Update:  On Monday 14 October I received this email from Tanya:

Hello Everyone,

Just a quick update to let you know how the native bee project is progressing. Much to my excitement (and surprise) bees have already moved in to several of our next boxes. It is very encouraging!  I’ve attached a picture showing a nest box with several sealed nest holes. Mama bee spends a week or two filling the nest with food. She lays an egg, surrounds it with food and then seals it in with wax, mud, chewed wood or a glassy cellophane like substance (depending on species). When she has filled the tunnel with eggs/food, she seals the entrance and flies away, never to return. A few weeks/months later, new adult bees will chew their way out of the nest.

The Bee team (James, Sheridan, Elisha and I) will be going around once a month (starting today) collecting nest boxes that contain completed (sealed) nests. We will replace them with fresh nest boxes so that more bees can move in. The completed nests will be kept in the lab so that we can catch and identify bees when they emerge. We will take photos of each bee (to help with identification), and weigh/measure them. We will also keep track of any parasites that emerge with them.  Adult bees will be returned to their garden of origin.  This method will allow us to collect data about bee abundance, diversity and health.

If you have any questions/concerns, please don’t hesitate to call or email me.

Thanks for your support!
Cheers,

Tanya