Bees are attracted to blue

The funny things you discover doing some last-minute shopping before a trip: you don’t want to buy a blue top for summer river wear because bees are attracted to blue.

So here I am, ramping up from mild panic to noticeable panic, ahead of my Hollyford-Pyke river packraft adventure with just over a week-and-a-bit to go. I’ve been trying to second-guess the weather before it is safe to do so and figure out if I have all my bases, bottoms, tops, you-name-it covered.

I’ll save you the hems, haws and deliberations and just say I decided to buy a new rash top cum thermal layer and ordered one online. My trip starts about two days after the Coast-to-Coast race, so paddling gear stock is low around the country and I soon got a call from the shop to say they don’t have the colour I wanted in the size I ordered.

Ah well - no red rash top then… I could have black or yellow (It’s going to be beacon-yellow if you’re wondering; not choosing black for summer). The salesman on the other end of the phone chimed: “Well it’s blue you don’t want. Blue attracts bees.”

I was curious but all he could add was that you always see bees go to blue flowers first. As soon as I was off the phone I consulted Google and guess what! Bees do like blue - as well as purple and violet.

Bees have three small eyes and two larger compound eyes. They see in colour using ultra-violet, blue and green spectrum and can’t see reds. They don’t have a red photoreceptor but can see reddish wavelengths of oranges and yellows.

Humans can see more colours, but bees have a broader range of colour vision and the ability to see ultra-violet light helps with flower pollination - many flowers have a bulls-eye-type pattern that can only be seen in ultra-violet light.

So there you have it. Bees see in colour and scientists say purple, violet and blue are the colours most likely to attract bees. Now if you excuse me, I have to get back to panic mode.