I'm Clancy, a native bee man and nature enthusiast. I grew up on Yorta Yorta land in country Victoria and couldn't get enough of Steve Irwin footage and David Attenborough documentaries. My love for native bees started though researching stingless bees with Yolŋu people in North-East Arnhem Land, NT. After falling in love with native bees up north, I wanted to find ways to look after native bees closer to home in Melbourne, thus started a conservation project involving native bee hotels and teaching Melbournians about pollinators.
Clancy Lester is a passionate expert in native bee conservation. His work revolves around the study and preservation of solitary native bees. Clancy’s experience includes conducting extensive research into the plant-pollinator networks of native bee species, emphasising their role in the broader ecosystem under the pressures of climate change. Clancy collaborated with the Yolŋu First Nations people to explore how phenological shifts (changes in plant flowering times) impact native bees and their habitats.
He is an advocate for biodiversity education through projects like constructing bee hotels—crafted from natural materials to attract native bees—and regularly hosts workshops to raise awareness about the importance of these pollinators.