Did you know today is International Bee Day? It was a blue banded bee that got me into nature photography nearly 10 years ago – after we shifted to our current home here in the Dandenong Ranges. Since then I’ve been learning a few things about bees but still have much to learn.
Did you know there are around 1500 species of native bees in Australia alone? I think I’ve only seen four where we live.
The blue-banded bee is classed as fairly common but I’d never seen one in my life before shifting here to Selby. But now we see them often in the warmer months. And for the first time this year, I saw a Blue Cuckoo bee. I was so excited. I’d read about them but had never seen them.
This post on the Aussie Bees site will tell you about bees in your region.
Did you know that bees are also food for many of our native bird species? One that comes to mind is the Rainbow Bee Eater which is immune to the stings from bees and wasps.
I encourage you to learn more about bees for your region and do what you can to encourage them. My husband and I have planted up hundreds of new bushes, trees and flowering plants since shifting here and we still have many more to go. But we have been rewarded with seeing lots more bees, butterflies and bird life because of this.
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