World Bee Day, May 20th 2022

Every year we celebrate World Bee Day on May 20th, this is the birth date of Anton Janša (1734 - 1773) who was a Slovenian Beekeeper and was the pioneer of modern beekeeping as well as one of the greatest authorities on bees.

In May, it is Autumn in the southern hemisphere and this is when hive products are harvested and the season of honey and honey based products starts and in the northern hemisphere, bees are developing profusely at this time.

World Bee Day (WBD) is a day to raise awareness to the essential role bees and other pollinators play being an integral part of many eco-systems. They don’t only just produce honey but they also pollinate most of the crops that we eat and without them our food security is at risk.

There are more than 20,000 species of bees that exist around the world, Australia itself has about 2000 species of native bees, most of these are solitary bees but others are social bees.

Bee populations are under threat from a variety of complex sources, these include

Habitat destruction
Intensive farming practices
Parasites, pathogens, pesticides and diseases
Malnutrition

Bees are keystone species, playing a vital role in pollination as well as preserving ecosystem health. European Honeybees were introduced to Australia to pollinate many of the introduced food crops that we use and eat on a day to day basis so they’re very important to us, just as our Australian native bees are!

Which Aussie Native Bees are in your area?

Photo gallery of Australian Native Bees

Beekeeping for beginners - tips, tricks and common mistakes