Video collections
Bee identification
How to tell the difference between some UK bee species - and identify which might sting.
If we're all being asked to be kinder to bees and give them a helping hand, it's useful to know how to tell the difference between them. Not all bees sting, so this is also a handy guide as to how to predict which are the stingers. Bumblebees are really quite cute close up...
Bee dynasty
The life and death of a bumble bee colony.
David Attenborough describes life at the heart of the hive, exploring the fascinating world of the bee colony. This is one of nature's most highly organised and well constructed ways of life. It's a life cycle story that has provided a rich thematic backdrop to many a work of fiction exploring the nature of humanity and society.
Hygienic honey bees
A dedicated bee-keeper has a plan to tackle varroa mites.
Chris Packham meets a dedicated apiarist who has a plan to tackle varroa mites by breeding bee colonies that know how to control the infestations.
Urban bees
Bees may be doing better in our towns and cities than out in the countryside.
Despite the serious decline in many bee populations, it would seem that the city slickers amongst bees are faring a little better than their countryside counterparts. This might shed some light on what's causing the decline.
Waggle dance
Honey bees indicate the flight path to new nectar sources through a remarkable dance.
David Attenborough explains how honey bees are not only able to communicate new sources of nectar to others back in the hive, but how they update the information throughout the day.
Sweet enticement
Flowers bribe insects with pollen and nectar to act as their genetic couriers.
There's a good reason for the phrase 'busy as a bee'. These little creatures work really hard in their role as pollinators. But of course they aren't doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. Plants pay handsomely for the energy invested in performing the bits of reproduction that they can't complete themselves.
Impossible flight
By all accounts large, fat bumblebees shouldn't be able to get off the ground.
When a French entomologist declared that it was impossible for bumblebees to fly - when quite clearly they did - it set scientists on a mission to find out how this aerodynamic mystery occurred. Here, super slow motion photography, and some smoke (but no mirrors) illuminates the extraordinary technique that allows these 'blimps' to remain airborne.
Secrets of the hive
Thermal cameras reveal the world beyond the visible inside a beehive.
The ability to capture and display the inner workings of a bee hive in infra-red reveals yet more extraordinary behaviour. It's long been known that bee colonies are highly organised, but their sophistication seems to go ever further. Here, specialised 'heater bees' maintain temperature in the brood and determine the futures of the developing grubs. Here too, the reason for all the frenetic activity performed by bees becomes clear.
Secret garden
Ultra-violet unlocks the hidden patterns in flowers that act like landing lights for bees.
Richard Hammond's series exposing the world usually hidden from our view shows how bees see our familiar world. Seen in ultra-violet, our gardens become a world of patterns that the bees decode to lead them straight to the food source.
Better bee
Will better weather spell a good year for British bees?
One of the problems faced by British bees is the weather - they find it hard to get out and collect nectar when it's cold and damp - you can see the problem. In order to give them as much help as possible, we need to keep planting more flowers to ensure that they can make the most of the good weather.
Humble honey
Kate Humble does a post-winter health check on her garden beehive.
Kate Humble does a post-winter health check on her garden beehive.
Honey bee loss
Beekeepers report ever greater population decreases for our vital pollinators.
In 2008, Countryfile reported on the large scale losses being experienced by British beekeepers. Two years on, scientists are continuing their efforts to find a cause and solution to this problem. Fears remain that a massive population collapse would have a serious affect on agriculture. Is time running out for honey bees? And what might the effect of a population collapse be?
Live and let live
With 264 bee species to identify in the UK alone, don't swat anything!
George McGavin issues a plea to everyone not to swat flying insects. Few bees look like the standard cartoon version of fluffy yellow and black striped blimps. Instead, many are hardly recognisable as bees and others are similar to wasps. With 264 species in the UK alone, it's better by far to err on the side of caution and leave them be...
Machair mecca
Scotland's machair is a rare haven for bees and a mecca for bee watchers.
Artist Bill Neil loves painting bees, and as such he must scrutinise his subject. These close encounters have made him more fascinated than ever by these incredible insects. The wildflower meadows, or machair, of the Outer Hebrides where Neil paints are a rare haven for bees and a reminder of what much of Britain looked like before intensive farming drained the landscape of its wildflower colour.
Microcircuit masterpiece
A bee's brain the size of a sugar grain stores and communicates complex data.
Bees are one of evolution's masterpieces. Tens of thousands of neurons packed into a space the size of a grain of sugar, work to process vital information on which flowers can be visited at which time of day. But what's even more amazing is that the bees communicate information on time, place and quallity of flowers and their nectar to each other back in the hive. And they do it by dancing...
Keeping bees
Kate Humble goes on a beekeeping course to learn how to have a hive.
With many bee populations in trouble, people are being encouraged to keep bees themselves as a way of ensuring that enough of these vital pollinators remain in action. Kate Humble goes on a beekeeping course to find out what's involved and discovers that keeping her own hive may not be as hard as it may seem.
Hot bodied bumblebees
Thermal cameras show how bumblebees leave a warm glow.
New camera technologies have enabled scientists and film-makers to study and reveal the secret inner workings of animals' lives. Here, a thermal camera shows the mechanical technique used by a chilly bumblebee to get to a flight-ready temperature. The camera then also shows how heat from the bumblebee is left behind in the flowers visited by the hot-bodied bee.
Humble bumble bees
How bees help Britain's tomato growers.
Large tomato farms use enormous glasshouses to grow their crop, and to exclude unwanted insects. Consequently, in order to pollinate the crops and keep the tomatoes coming, 2.5 million bumblebees are brought inside and put to work in the glasshouses every year.
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