Recommend a book on bee ecology?

[Malcolm Fraser]

Hello,

I'm about to start work on a project to improve areas within public parks for bees. Can anyone recommend a good book or other resource that will give me more information about bee ecology?

I'm aware of a number of books on bumblebees, can recommend one in particular? And what about solitary bees (and even honeybees)?

My understanding is fairly basic right now - I know many bees species need tussocky grasslands for nesting, and obviously nectar- or pollen-rich flowering plants for foraging resource. So anything which would build on this would be ideal.

Thanks.
Malcolm

[Geoff F]

There are a number of books with information on bees here NHBS - For the best books on earth, worldwide Also Pemberley Books might be worth a look. But I haven't actually read any of them.

I use the Edwards/Jenner Field Guide to the Bumblebees of Great Britain & Ireland which has quite a lot of information on general behaviour.

Books on solitary bees are a bit scarce at the moment but I understand that there may be something in the pipeline.

Although not strictly bees, I found Solitary Wasps by Yeo & Corbet a good read.

[aeshna5]

I would also recommend the Edwards/Jenner book. Ted Benton's New Naturalist on bumblebees has a lot of interesting material.

[poschiavanus]

I think the most obvious book which is readily available is David Baldock's "Bees of Surrey". Around 90% of the British List have been found in Surrey, and the detailed effort in surveying Surrey, provides a lot of information about habitat and ecology. Of course it helps a lot if you are familiar with places in Surrey.

The Provisional Atlas series published by BWARS has useful but highly summarised ecological information (for instance: pollen sources, cuckoo bees).

Lastly Paul Westrich's "Die Wildbienen Baden-Württembergs" (in german, and difficult to obtain) contains a lot of ecological information about many British species of bees. It contains a large amount of original research on pollen collection: not all of which is directly applicable to the same species in Britain. For instance Colletes cunicularis is rare in Britain, and only known to collect pollen of Creeping Willow Salix repens, whereas in Baden-Württemberg it uses a broader range of willows.

HTH,

posch

[Malcolm Fraser]

Thanks very much for the recommendations.

Malcolm

[Gill Catton]

A fantastic project! And really good to see that you are considering not only the charismatic bumble bees and honey bees but on the solitary bees too Yey!!

Bees can be complicated because they can be found in quite different habitats whether feeding themselves, feeding their offspring and/ or building nests but they very much need all three types to be of good quality and relatively close together to be successful!

General changes can be made to the benefit of bees, include planting of a range of species that will provide a profusion of flowers throughout the spring/summer can be very beneficial for example as it allows adults too go on longer and more offspring to survive. Avoid cultivars that have double flowers and use good old fashioned hand pulling / squashing over pesticides or herbicides in grounds maintenance etc....

Good luck with this - lucky local bees!

[eucera]

And, very importantly, do not forget the key role of bare ground in providing nesting sites.