Learn about bees

Bees carry pollen from flower to flower as they forage, and in doing so they help many wild plants and food crops to set seed and fruit. Honeybees are the best known, but Malta is also home to many species of wild, solitary bees that do much of this quiet work.

Healthy bee populations are a sign of a healthy countryside. Protecting them means protecting the garigue, valleys, fields and gardens that make the Maltese islands what they are.

A colony has one queen, thousands of female worker bees and, in the warmer months, a smaller number of male drones. Every bee passes through four stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult.

Worker bees change jobs as they age — cleaning cells, feeding larvae, building comb, guarding the entrance and finally foraging for nectar, pollen and water.

• Egg — laid by the queen in a wax cell
• Larva — fed by nurse bees
• Pupa — the cell is capped while the bee develops
• Adult — emerges and begins work inside the hive

Maltese honey has been valued for centuries. Its character depends on what is in flower: wild thyme (sagħtar) on the garigue in early summer, carob (ħarrub) in autumn, citrus blossom in spring, and a wide mix of wildflowers after the winter rains.

Because each season and locality is different, local honey varies in colour and taste from one harvest to the next — part of what makes it special.

Start by learning before you buy. Join a beginners' course, visit an experienced beekeeper's apiary and find a mentor. Think carefully about where hives will stand, your neighbours, access to water and the time you can give.

• Take a training course and keep learning
• Find a mentor among experienced members
• Check registration and legal requirements with the competent authorities
• Get proper protective equipment
• Start small — one or two colonies

In spring, colonies naturally divide and a cluster of bees may settle on a tree, wall or car. A swarm is usually calm because the bees have no home to defend — but keep your distance and keep children and pets away.

• Do not spray, smoke or disturb the bees
• Note the location and how high the cluster is
• Call us so a beekeeper can collect it safely
• If someone is stung and has difficulty breathing, call 112

Even a balcony can help. Choose plants that suit our dry climate and flower at different times of the year, avoid pesticides, and leave a shallow dish of water with stones for bees to land on.

• Thyme, rosemary and lavender
• Borage and wildflowers
• Citrus and other fruit trees
• Native shrubs suited to garigue conditions