03/06/2026
Busy Bees in Annes Grove
Gardens!
Come and enjoy nature at its best!
Interesting to note:
Buzz sonication (also known as buzz pollination) is a highly specialised foraging behaviour where certain bees rapidly vibrate their flight muscles, in order to dislodge and collect
pollen which is tightly held inside a flower's anthers.
The bee clamps onto the flower using its jaws or legs and activates its indirect flight muscles.
This creates intense, high frequency vibrations (typically between 200 and 400H2). The loud, high-pitched buzz triggers the flower to release a cloud of nutrient rich pollen onto the bee.
Some of the grains of pollen adhere to its body and are inadvertently transferred to the next flower it visits.
Not all bees can perform this trick. The masters of this technique include bumblebees which are the most common and widespread buzz pollinators. Carpenter bees, mining bees and many types of solitary bees are also experts at sonication. Standard honeybees are unable to forage in this way.
It is an intricate
evolutionary relationship between plants and insects, Without buzz pollination many of our most important fruits and vegetables would not reproduce or yield fruit.
Globally, about 8% of the world's flowering plants (around 300,000 species)
have adapted to hide their pollen and rely almost exclusively on sonicating bees to reproduce.
Key crops include potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, blueberries, cranberries and kiwis.
Annes Grove Gardens are Open Thursday to Monday at 10am. Last admission 4pm. Gates close at 5pm
Bring a picnic!
Credit:EM
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