Bees – The June Gap

There are around 280 species of bee which are found in the UK.  June is the beginning of the summer season when the spring flowering plants and trees shed their blooms having been pollinated and now begin to form seeds but the main flow of summer flowering blooms has yet to begin. For bee keepers, this time is known as the ‘June Gap‘.

The June Gap is often felt the most in rural areas dominated by intensive agriculture. The plentiful hawthorn blooms of hedgerows, hedgerow trees and the glut of autumn sown Rapeseed are largely over throughout most of the UK by June but the summer wild flowers are not yet at their peak and the Heather bloom is still many weeks away.

It isn’t just our bees – this affects any invertebrate which depends on nectar and pollen as a food source: butterflies*, moths, hoverflies, beetles, thrips and wasps.  If you are a caring wildlife gardener, then it is worth ensuring there is not a gap in your garden at this time 🙂

*June is also a good month for garden butterflies including the large and small green veined whites, early migrant painted ladies, red admirals, small tortoiseshells, brimstonees, speckled wood and meadow browns.

The weather has an effect on when the colonies of bees swarm and May has been very wet.  There is a 17th century proverb:

A swarm in May is worth a load of hay;
a swarm in June is worth a silver spoon;
but a swarm in July is not worth a fly.

The Natural History museum have produced a pocket ID chart with the six most common UK bumblebee species for you to identify by looking at the insects’ colour patterns. Download the Bumblebee Quick ID chart HERE.

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