-To investigate the distances at which honey bee foragers collect nectar and pollen, we analysed 5,484 decoded waggle dances made to natural forage sites to determine monthly foraging distance for each forage type. Firstly, we found significantly fewer overall dances made for pollen (16.8 %) than for non-pollen, presumably nectar (83.2 %; P <2.2×10−23 ). When we analysed distance against month and forage type, there was a significant interaction between the two factors, which demonstrates that in some months, one forage type is collected at farther distances, but this would reverse in other months. Overall, these data suggest that distance, as a proxy for forage availability, is not significantly and consistently driven by need for one type of forage over the other.forage availability / waggle dance / Apis mellifera / nectar / pollen

1. We examined the effects of reduced mowing on wildflower bloom and flower-visiting insects in the Saltdean Oval, a 6 ha suburban public park in Saltdean, UK.2. In 2012, a novel management regime was initiated in which approximately half the grass area was left uncut, with the plan being to mow it once per year in autumn. In spring 2013, we set up four blocks, with each block subdivided into four 30 9 5 m strips treated under different mowing regimes: (a) regular mowing every 2 weeks all spring and summer, (b) regular mowing until 2 June, (c) regular mowing until 5 July, and (d) no mowing.3. The abundance of both flowers and flower-visiting insects increased significantly with reduced mowing, being ca. 3 and 5 times greater in (d) than (a), respectively, with (b) and (c) intermediate. Mowing intensity, however, had a weak effect on wildflower species richness, which was only lower in (a). 4. A 1 km bee, butterfly, and moth transect walk, 500 m within the long grass part of the park and 500 m within the short, recorded ca. 509 greater insect abundance in the long grass. 5. A questionnaire of public opinion found that 97% of park visitors favoured encouraging insects and wildflowers. In terms of enjoyment of the park, 26% said that it had increased, 64% said that it stayed the same, and 10% said that it decreased. 6. These results present an encouraging example of a potential win-win situation in urban land management change, where the interests of humans and wildlife are aligned, thereby making the goals of conservation easier to achieve.

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A successful honey bee forager tells her nestmates the location of good nectar and pollen with the waggle dance, a symbolic language that communicates a distance and direction. Because bees are adept at scouting out profitable forage and are very sensitive to energetic reward, we can use the distance that bees communicate via waggle dances as a proxy for forage availability, where the further the bees fly, the less forage can be found locally. Previously we demonstrated that bees fly furthest in the summer compared with spring or autumn to bring back forage that is not necessarily of better quality. Here we show that August is also the month when significantly more foragers return with empty crops (P = 7.63e-06). This provides additional support that summer may represent a seasonal foraging challenge for honey bees.