In pictures: The Big Buzz at Kew
Chief bee advisor Tony Smith transferring some of the bees to their new hives at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Around 20,000 bees have been moved into two hives in a meadow at the botanical gardens in west London.
The bees are being released as part of a campaign to encourage people to grow more bee-friendly flowers in their gardens. Flower pots, window boxes and roof terraces are some of the ways Londoners can help the declining bee population.
Honeybee numbers in the UK have fallen by up to 30% since 2007 - a loss of more than 2 billion bees at a cost of £54 million.
The bees at Kew are part of Jordans Big Buzz campaign supported by conservation groups, leading bee experts and London's Mayor Boris Johnson.
The queen bee has been marked with a white dot for identification. Usually green is used for this year but the bee kept wiping the colour off!
The bees will produce honey at Kew and the flavour will depend on the flowers visited by the bees. Honeybees are the only insects that produce food eaten by humans.
A bee visiting a nearby flower at Kew Gardens. A bee will visit 50-100 flowers during one trip and can fly at an average speed of 25mph.
The Bee Discovery Centre will help educate children about how honeybees collect food, structure their hive and turn pollen and nectar into honey.
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