Bees prefer aphids!

[Stargazer]

This BBC news clip from the highlands says bees are heading for the sticky sap from aphids.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7470859.stm

I noticed this in my garden, the bees seem to prefer the sap from whitefly on the tips of a hawthorn hedge and ignore a patch of uncut grass covered in clover flowers.
Has any body else noticed this preference? Is it new?

[highbury]

as a footnote before everyone starts rushing off to buy a hive, it's bumble bee's - honey bees still go for plants !!

[Margaret M.]

The decline in the bee population is very obvious this year. Some bushes/flowers that I have that are normally covered in bees have just two or three on them.