Wildlife
Bee fence
A bee fence protects crops from elephants.
A bee fence protects crops from elephants.
Queen bee
Two bees emerge from Queen cells, only one will become Queen.
Two bees emerge from Queen cells, only one will become Queen.
Honeybees defend nest
Guard honeybees defend nest against elephants.
Guard honeybees defend nest against elephants.
Foraging honeybees
Forager honeybees visit 2000 flowers a day to collect pollen and nectar.
Forager honeybees visit 2000 flowers a day to collect pollen and nectar.
Urban bees
Honeybees forage for pollen and nectar from gardens and window boxes all around the city.
Honeybees forage for pollen and nectar from gardens and window boxes all around the city.
Precious honey
Bees fight to the death against bears to save their honey supplies.
Despite having their nest destroyed by a black bear, a battered bee colony refuses to lie down and die. Instead each bee eats its own weight in honey so that the colony will have enough energy to sustain it as it builds a new nest elsewhere in the forest.
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.
Hail Caesar!
The Romans did us quite a favour when they introduced honey bees to Britain.
Honey bees make it to the top of Bill Oddie's list of welcome alien species. Brought here by the Romans, they now play a vital role in our ecosystem, particularly in food production. If the calculation purported to have been made by Einstein is right, that if bees were to die out, humans would follow about five years after, the current honey bee decline should be a sure cause for concern.
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.
Native nightmares
Foreign species have caused havoc for Australia's native wildlife.
Foreign species have caused havoc for Australia's native wildlife.
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...
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.
House hunting
Bees swarm in vast numbers in search of a new home.
In this clip from Swarm, it's obvious that bees are very picky about where they live. They try out a variety of locations before they settle on the one they like, and no wonder. When there are 100,000 of you moving home, it's difficult to make a choice that will please every individual. When they do finally find their dez res, they appear to hold a committee meeting and somehow gain consensus. Then, the whole colony makes a bee line for the new home and they all move in at once.
Invisible or visble?
Crab spiders appear camouflaged, to the naked human eye.
Crab spiders appear camouflaged, to the naked human eye.
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