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World Bee Day
On World Bee Day we take a moment to appreciate the world’s tiny environmental champions and all they do for us.
This year’s theme – Bee inspired by nature to nourish us all – highlights that bees nourish everyone, not just in the important role they play in food production but in our broader environment. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate bees and encourage action for improved outcomes for bees.
Thankfully there are lots of small ways to make a big impact for our precious pollinators.
The importance of pollination
What role do bees have?
Bees are pollinating powerhouses! A single bee can visit up to 5000 flowers in one day. They are essential for the pollination of 33% of our food crops and 90% of our wild plants. This means that one third of all food that we eat depends on bees for its production.
There are close to 20,000 species of bee around the globe of all shapes and sizes and they all have an important role to play in supporting the health and biodiversity of our world.
33% of food supply depends on pollination
Bee friendly agricultural practices are becoming essential for supporting local pollinators to ensure they will have safe forage.
We've partnered with Wheen Bee Foundation in Australia and Pollinator Partnership in the USA to support the Bee Friendly Farming® initiative.
We're thrilled to be helping farmers and gardeners as they step up to promote biodiversity and safeguard our food supply for future generations by implementing robust pollinator protection measures.
Bees and honey
Why honey is “sweeter” than sugar
Most people are aware of the health benefits of ditching refined sugar for alternative sweeteners such as honey, yet many don’t realise that making this change can also have a huge impact on the environment.
The growing and processing of sugar has major environmental impacts, like loss of habitat, excess water usage, heavy use of agro-chemicals, plus water and air pollution which affects localised and downstream ecosystems.
More than just a sweet taste
Honey has a long history of medicinal use going back thousands of years.
🍯 Honey has strong antibacterial properties for treating wounds, burns and skin infections
🍯 Eating honey can boost the levels of healthy bacteria in the gut
🍯 Honey also has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties
🎥 Watch Dr Nural Cokcetin share her research into honey's powerful health benefits and medicinal qualities. To view the extended lesson, check out our online education portal TheBeekeeper.org.
Meet the bees
Honey Bee 🌎
Apis mellifera
The most commonly farmed bee for both pollination and honey production. Their complex social structure and intelligence are widely studied, particularly in regards to their ability to act as a superorganism with a “hive mind”. They have highly evolved navigational skills and communicate by dancing!
Blue Banded Bee 🇦🇺
Amegilla cingulata
A solitary nesting bee with beautiful metallic blue fur across its black abdomen. Attracted to blue and purple flowers, they buzz pollinate, and nest in a shallow burrow in clay soil or mudbricks.
Read more | 🎬 Watch Video
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Bumble Bee 🌎
Bombus bee family
These social insects form colonies ranging in size from 50-400, with nests usually found underground. There are over 250 different species which vary in appearance, they’re often larger than honeybees with rounded abdomens and are covered in fur. They do not make honey but are excellent pollinators.
Read more | 🎬 Watch Video
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Leafcutter Bee 🌎
Megachilidae bee family
A solitary nesting bee that collects leaves to line their nest, creating neat crescent or almost circular shaped holes in garden leaves. They are superpollinators and can pollinate the same amount as 20 honeybees.
Read more | 🎬 Watch Video
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Neon Cuckoo Bee 🌎
Thyreus nitidulus
The Neon Cuckoo Bee is a stunningly beautiful bee with a metallic blue sheen and slick, black wings. These native bees have a parasitic lifestyle to ensure the survival of their offspring and prey on the Blue-banded Bee by laying eggs in their burrow and stealing the resources within.
Metallic Green Carpenter Bee 🇦🇺
Xylocopa
An iconic bee species native to Australia which is sadly critically endangered. A beautiful jewel green in colour, they can grow up to 17 mm long and are friendly and harmless. Solitary nesting, they burrow into hard plant material such as dead wood or bamboo.
Read more | 🎬 Watch Video
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Fire-tailed Resin Bee 🇦🇺
Megachile mystaceana
With a red or bright orange abdomen that stands out against its black body, this cute native Australian solitary nester is an excellent pollinator who carries pollen on its abdomen in a ‘pollen brush’. A great resident for a pollinator house, they seal their nest with a mix of resin and mud.
Read more | 🎬 Watch Video
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Teddy Bear Bee 🇦🇺
Amegilla bombiformis
These cute bees resemble bumblebees and are covered in orange-brown fur with dark hairless bands on their abdomen. Solitary nesters, they build individual small burrows in the soil, often in creek banks. They are buzz pollinators and have remarkably long tongues particularly suited to tubular-shaped wildflowers.
Read more | 🎬 Watch Video
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Sugarbag Bee 🇦🇺
Tetragonula carbonaria
These little Australian stingless bees live in colonies with a highly developed social structure comparable to honeybees. Much smaller than a honeybee and mostly black, they collect and store quantities of honey in beautiful hexagonal combs formed in a distinctive spiral pattern. Farmed mainly for pollination and conservation.
Read more | 🎬 Watch Video
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Mason Bee 🌎
Osmia bicornis
These special little insects are excellent pollinators and can do the pollinating work of up to 120 honey bees! Frequently metallic green or blue in colour, they gain their name from using mud or other masonry products to build their solitary nests. Docile, harmless and non-territorial, they’ll often build nests right next to each other.
What you can do
Introduce a hive
If you love bees, chances are you’ve been contemplating getting started in beekeeping…
Keeping bees is a fascinating and rewarding hobby, where the discoveries are endless. Plus the honey really is an amazing bonus!
If you’re ready to add a hive to your yard, get ready to add the boost of up to 40,000,000 flowers pollinated every day in your local area.
Community programs
From schools to community gardens, we’re thrilled to be able to support these fantastic educational opportunities and love to see so many diverse groups of people discovering the fascinating world of bees.
Check out the latest updates from two programs we support – The Humble Hive Collective and Honey Bees for Compton.
How to support pollinators in your yard
The widespread use of pesticides is having dire consequences for our bees and our environment.
We all want to protect our produce from opportunistic pests, but how can we achieve this if we put the sprays away?
Flow's pollinator initiatives
Billions of Blossoms
Our Billions of Blossoms project is designed to support bees and pollinators globally by providing billions of new flowers to forage on.
Using funds raised through TheBeekeeper.org, we’ve partnered with with organisations all around the world that are doing amazing work protecting and regenerating habitat, and supporting farmers to create safe places for pollinators.
Bee Friendly Farming
Bee Friendly Farming® (BFF) is a certification program created by Pollinator Partnership who are working with farmers to help protect, preserve and promote pollinator health.
As a Platinum Sponsor of the program, Flow is helping to expand the program to new areas and cover a wider range of crops.
Pollinator Support Program
Made from up-cycled Flow Hive 2 timber offcuts and sustainably sourced bamboo, our Pollinator House supports native pollinators and helps to raise funds for pollinator protection programs.
100% of profits are donated to pollinator advocacy, protection and education projects.
