While Orange's bees are looking to stay in their hives now to avoid our wintry weather there is every chance there will still be some in your garden this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Orange residents are being encouraged to join in the activities leading up to World Bee Day on Wednesday May 20.
To join in, download the World Bee Count app and head into your backyard to photograph bees.
Organisers plan on producing a pollinator map of bees from the information gained from people around the world.
Orange beekeeper Ken Quince said while bees were more prominent from September to February/March there would still be some about.
"It's not a good time of year for Orange. It might be World Bee Day but Orange is in the downtime," he said.
Mr Quince said bees were not as active in autumn and winter as they were once the blossoms flourished in September.
He said people would most likely see European honey bees, principally the Italian and Carniolan varieties.
Mr Quince said the Italian bees were more golden and larger in the body while Carniolans were darker and had a smaller body.
He said you might even be lucky enough to spot some native bees including the blue-striped bee.
"I see a few each season," he said.
"Very few people will even notice the native bees. The native bees are more likely to be solitary and nowhere near as voluminous."
He said while the European bees were seen in Orange in swarms of 10,000-40,000 at a time the native bees were in much smaller numbers.
Mr Quince said the World Bee Day count was important as it helped educate people about the key role bees, and other pollinators, played in producing our food.
He said it was also important people were aware of the risks to bees in our community.
"There are diseases and parasites in Orange that we have to be careful of," he said.
Mr Quince said he was concerned some people who had bee hives were not following regulations requiring them to inspect them at least once a year for diseases.
"That's a very, very important thing to do," he said.
Mr Quince said bees could fly about five or six kilometres from their hive and could spread killer diseases to other hives.
"It's got the ability to wipe out a bee population in one area," he said.
HAVE YOUR SAY
- Send us a letter to the editor using the form below...