The Wild Bee Handbook: The Amazing Lives of Our Wild Species and How to Help Them Thrive

by Sarah Wyndham Lewis

There are over 20,000 species of bee worldwide, of which just seven species are honeybees. In the US alone,there are over 4,000 species of bee,  whereas Europe only have nearly 2,000 bee species and the UK has 275.
 
The Wild Bee Handbook is a practical, illustrated guide that will introduce you to the common wild bees you might find in your garden. Through a handy directory, learn how vital wild bees are to the ecosystem and discover how we can garden to offer them the food and habitat they need. This book is an essential resource for anyone interested in biodiversity and sustainable gardening, featuring sections on container gardening, the no-dig method, how to maintain soil health, the principles for rewilding and wildflower gardening for success ­– it doesn’t matter how big or small your space, you can still garden to support wild bees.
 
The Wild Bee Handbook is a celebration of the wild pollinators and a beautifully illustrated, informative guide that will equip you to create a green space to help them thrive. Join the wave of change and learn how to grow sustainability.

Genres: Biology, Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

First published May 2, 2023

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful, beautifully written and a must-read. An important read for all bee enthusiasts. This book for me will stay on my shelf to revisit when spotting a variety of bees out on walks, but especially in my own garden.

[Anneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely to get to know more about the bees, the variety and lost of other things about the bees

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was pretty much EXACTLY what I was looking for when I wanted to learn more about bees - extremely too bad that I live in the US Midwest and she lives in the UK! The guides to the most common UK species were very interesting, but they weren't particularly directly applicable to me, and I deeply wish I had the same for my area.

Despite this, the book was STILL extremely worthwhile, as it has an incredibly good mix of scientific and practical information. Want to know the social structures and life cycles of different kinds of bees? Covered, accessibly and delightfully. Want to know what you personally can do that's actually useful for them, and what isn't? Also here, with abundant resources cited for further reading on whatever piques your interest most.

TLDR Great resource if you just want to learn, invaluable if you're in the UK.

[S.M. Jaehn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to read sections and good info about trends such as bee hotels and rewilding but know that the wild bee varieties discussed are from the UK. If you are looking to learn about your own native wild bees, make sure you check your local authors.

[Katey Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply superb! Chock full of inspiration, information, and practical advice.

[kate]

very informative even though Wyndham-Lewis is in England, it contained interesting information and links to more info about a very important and underserved population in my region.

[Gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew bees could be trained to find landmines??

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for work

[Jessica Hooley · Rating 4 out of 5]

was a bit of a skim read for the interesting to me bits and when I can plant for bees, this will be a book I reach for

[Andrea (andreareadsalot) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This nonfiction had a lot of information on different types of bees however it was UK based and I didn’t feel like it completely applied to me in a different country. I struggled with some of the sections. They were a bit wordy.

Overall Rating: 3/5