South Australia Museum bee researcher Dr Remko Leijs explains why we need backyard bee hotels

WHEN people think of bees they tend to conjure up images of honey bees in busy hives. But Australia has more than 1600 species of native bees and our backyards can benefit enormously if we extend them our hospitality.

Native bee researchers Katja Hogendoorn and Beth Fung with the Native Bee Hotel near Urrbrae House. Picture: Calum Robertson

WHEN people think of bees they tend to conjure up images of honey bees in busy hives.

What many people don’t know is that Australia has more than 1600 species of native bees.

The little insects largely live a solitary life and, with the exception of stingerless bees from northern Australia, they don’t make honey.

They can, however, do wonders for your garden and bee experts are encouraging South Australians to build “bee hotels” to encourage the critters to take up residence in suburban backyards.

South Australia Museum bee researcher Dr Remko Leijs said there were more than 300 species of native bees in South Australia, although the exact number is more of an educated guess.

Close-up of the Native Bee Hotel near Urrbrae House. Picture: Calum Robertson

“We’re still finding undescribed species,” Dr Leijs said.

“Even in the Adelaide Hills a student found a new species last year in an apple orchard.”

Dr Leijs said there were not many people — “perhaps 10, and we’re all quite old” — studying native bees in Australia so it was difficult to monitor their numbers and distribution.

“If you look at Europe, for example, they know every species of bee on every square kilometre of land, as well as their historic numbers,” he said.

We do know enough, however, to know that some of our native bees are in a spot of trouble. The green carpenter bee, for example used to be found across southern Australia but now only lives on Kangaroo Island.

“The last one was caught in the Adelaide area in 1902,” Dr Leijs said. “It also went extinct in Victoria because of bushfires in the Grampians.”

On KI, the bee’s range has been contracting west into Flinders Chase National Park, which was also devastated by fire in 2007. The fire disrupted the growth of yakkas and banksias, favourite nesting sites for carpenter bee.

Dr Leijs and his research team have had considerable success providing alternative nesting sites made from lengths of balsa wood, constructed to resemble yakka spikes.

The program has gone so well that Dr Leijs can see a time where the bee could be reintroduced to the mainland.

Home gardeners are also being encouraged to provide a home for their own native bees by constructing bee hotels.

The structures, usually made from logs with holes drilled into them or narrow bamboo tubes, give the bees somewhere to live and nest. Dr Leijs said in return the bees will pollinate flowers and vegetables, as well as providing a fascinating project for children.

Directions for building your own bee hotel can be found by following the links at mrccc.org.au