The other 590
Besides Apis mellifera, Germany holds around 590 wild bee species. Most live alone — and most are on the red list.
The honey bee is a managed animal. Wild bees are not: they live largely solitary, each female building and provisioning her own nest, with no colony and no winter stores.
About three quarters of the species nest in the ground, in open warm sand and eroded edges. The rest use cavities in dead wood, stems or snail shells — so nesting aids reach only a minority.
Many species are oligolectic: they collect pollen from only a few plant genera. No plant, no bee — however many nesting aids are hanging.
Where wild bees nest
Share of species by nesting habit, guide values for Central Europe.An insect hotel replaces neither a patch of sand nor a flower.
Effective protection means allowing bare ground, native unfilled flowers across the whole season, staggered mowing, and no autumn tidy-up.
And: dense honey bee stocking can take forage from wild bees. Beekeeping is livestock keeping, not conservation by default — both need their own measures.
