ON THE BLOG: Get the buzz on native bees

Natalie and one of her beehives

My eyes were first opened to the world of native bees at a teachers’ conference, where Entomologist Tim Heard showed us a native hive of stingless bees at the base of an old gum tree. Our group was standing right beside it, but were completely unaware of the constant stream of busy insects coming in and out of the hive. When he took the lid off to allow us to peep inside, I was entranced and fell in love with the intricate spiral comb. I made it my mission to learn as much as I could about these tiny pollinators, and in the process, I discovered a whole world of native bee species.

Within 6 months, I was the proud owner of my own hive of Sugarbag bees (Tetragonula carbonaria), the only stingless, social species naturally found in NSW. My garden blossomed; the lemons and mandarins had never been more bountiful! I love sitting beside the hive with a cup of tea, watching the bees and their clumsy landings as they returned from foraging, their back legs laden with brightly coloured balls of pollen and resin.

The more I learned about native bees, the more I realised how blindly I had been walking through life. How had I never noticed a blue-banded bee on my lavender? Nor the clean circular cuts on the leaves of my roses created by the solitary leaf-cutter bee? I’d never appreciated the loud, low hum of a teddy bear bee amongst the salvia plants. If you are growing tomatoes, eggplants, zucchinis, chilli, or melons, you probably have blue banded and teddy bear bees. They perform sonic or “buzz” pollination, where they shake the pollen out of these tubular flowers.

Sugar bee on Rocket Flower

There are almost 2000 species of native bees in Australia; only 11 of these are social and live in a hive. The rest are solitary, with females building nests in hollow stems, such as bamboo, or underground tunnels. In solitary species, the female creates the nest. Leaf-cutter bees cut perfect circles from the leaves and glue them together to make a tunnel, while carpenter bees use strong mandibles (toothed jaws) to chew through softer bark to create a tunnel-like nest. The female will visit hundreds of flowers, collecting pollen and nectar to bring back to the nest until there is enough to make a pollen ball to lay an egg on. In each stem or tunnel, she will lay five eggs, which take around 7 weeks to hatch. After sealing all her eggs in, a female solitary bee will die, leaving her larvae to develop over winter and emerge in spring.

Native bees you can find in Sydney:

• Blue-banded bees are commonly found in gardens throughout Sydney. They are solitary, ground-nesting bees that live under houses (where the ground is undisturbed) and sometimes in the mortar between bricks. If you are quick, you may be able to count 4 stripes for a female, and 5 stripes for a male.

Blue-banded bee on Salvia

• Reed bees and masked bees are attracted to tiny holes in fencing or bamboo, lantana, grape, or hydrangea stems. Masked bees are small, black, shiny, hairless bees, some of which have bright yellow markings on their faces. They close the entrance to their nest with a distinctive, almost clear, cellophane-like secretion. While Reed bees are semi-social, their females use their flattened posterior to block the nest entrance for defence from predators. If you have cuttings after pruning your plants, make sure to leave them for a while, in case they are inhabited by these bees! The cuttings could then be used to make bee hotels.

Reed bee on a Native Tea Tree

• Bigger resin bees are common in backyards and love a bee hotel (link), closing the entrance of the nest with sticky resin collected from tree sap.

Most of Australia’s native bees are ground dwellers, so watch where you’re walking!

How to support native bees

One of the best ways gardeners can support native bees is to leave a corner or space in the garden undisturbed, allowing them to find hollows in stems, branches, or excavate their underground nests. Having an organic garden is essential, as any pesticide residue can negatively impact the larvae that feed on pollen and the nectar balls on which female solitary bees lay their eggs.

Plant local native flowering plants like grevillea sericea, melaleuca nodosa and banksias (which includes all plants that belong to the Easter Suburbs Banksia Scrub Community). Native bees also love lavender, salvias and Rosemary. Offering an array of plants provides varying nectar and pollen, which bees use to maintain microbial health within their nests. Growing plants that flower over winter is also a meaningful way to support native pollinators when foraging is sparse. Check out the Waverley Habitat Gardening Guide for a list of local native plants.

You can also create urban bee habitats by building a bee hotel. Check out the Second Nature webpage here for step-by-step instructions. There are also many other 'Nature-Positive opportunities' that you can get involved with in Waverley to help protect our vital urban ecosystems.

Bee Hotel

The Australian native bee space is an exciting place of discovery - there are many species yet to be described, and newly discovered species are observed every year. You may even uncover a new species in your own backyard!

Recommended reading

• https://www.aussiebee.com.au/bee-friendly-garden.html
• Tim Heard, “The Australian Native Bee Book”
• Tobias J Smith “The Australian Bee Genera”