Wimbledon Beekeepers' Association

• There are more than 20,000 species of bee in the world, but only four of them produce honey.
• Bees cruise at about 15 mph but can fly at speeds of up to 20 mph
• Bees never sleep
• When flying, a bee will beat its wings about 180 times per second
• The chemical that makes a bee sting itch is called mellitin
• A bee can see 300 frames per second
• According to fossil records, bees first appeared on earth about 150 million years ago

• In the UK there are approximately 44,000 beekeepers looking after around 240,000 hives.

Bumble bees

• Unlike honeybees, bumble bees only produce enough honey to feed their young and so they have no commercial value
• The drone (male) bumble bee doesn't have a sting.
• Despite their size, bumble bees are far less agressive than honeybees and will usually never attack unless they feel threatened.
• Unlike a honeybee, if a bumble bee does use its sting, it won't die or lose the stinger.
• Link to The Bumblebee Conservation Trust

Honey bees (Latin name 'Apis Mellifera')

• Honey bees have hair on their eyes
• A full pollen load weighs about 1/6th of the weight of a bee
• A full load of nectar weighs about ½ the weight of a bee
• The oldest known record of humans interest in honeybees is a drawing on a
  cave wall in eastern Spain, which is dated to approximately
  8,000-11,000 years old. It depicts a man climbing a ladder to collect
  honey from a nest. Similar drawings have also been found in caves in
  Zimbabwe and South Africa
• Ancient records show that beekeeping originated about 6,000 years ago in both China and Egypt
• The pollen baskets on a honey bee are situated on their legs and are called 'corbicula'
• Nectar is carried in the crop/honey stomach
• The average worker bee will fly approximately 500 miles before she wears out and dies
• A queen bee has to eat 80 times her own weight to produce 2,000 eggs per day
• A bee will visit 50-100 flowers during one trip
• Honey can range in colour from white to gold to dark brown and it usually has a stronger taste when it's colour is darker.
• A bee must tap 2 million flowers to make 1lb of honey and would have to fly 55,000 miles to get it
• One bee will make 0.8g (1/10 of a teaspoon) of honey during her lifetime
• Mead is made from fermented honey
• Drambuie is a scotch liquer which is made from honey
• Like the male Bumble Bee, drones (males) don't have stings
• A worker honeybee in summer lives only 6 to 8 weeks

• A hive can contain up to 70,000 bees in the middle of summer