Bee-Friendly

I have always had a fascination with Bees as they “air hop” from one flower to another, sucking the nectar up and then flying off into the distance “somewhere”. As a young boy, I used to marvel at this wonderful creature and wonder where the honey was, no doubt influenced by my childhood stories of Winnie the Pooh!

"The only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey....and the only reason for making honey is so I can eat it." Winnie the Pooh in A.A. Milne's 'The House at Pooh Corner'

Bumblebees and honeybees are extremely useful pollinators in our gardens and the countryside but they are in need of our help and we all can play our special part.

Would you like to find out more about bumblebees?

As the weather warms up and our sunny days return, queens of various bumblebee species will be emerging from hibernation in search nectar laden flowers to help them provide enough energy to build their colonies which will soon be buzzing with life by early summer.

There are more than 250 species of bee here in the UK alone, the most familiar is our Bumblebee. There are currently 24 British species but sadly two species have already become extinct. The Honeybee is the only species which provides us with Honey. Solitary bees, namely the leafcutter, carpenter and mining bees are also “busy” in our gardens.

Almost a third of global farm output depends on animal pollination, largely by honey bees. Unfortunately a combination of disease and loss of habitat has contributed to the reduction in bee numbers in the UK.

“Colony collapse disorder" (CCD) is already well-known phenomenom. This mystery plague has stimulates debate on whether it is caused by parasites, or a virus, or use of pesticides that play havoc with the nervous system ofyoung bees, or a synergy of destructive forces coming together.

Would you like to find out more about bumblebees?

It was Einstein who once said” If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man”

As food prices hits an all time-high, it is becoming urgent to know whether the plight of the honey bee risks further exhausting our food security. Scary stuff but the bees are dying – or being killed – at a disturbing pace.

The good news is that a number of conservation initiatives are being taken to help our native bee populations.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust (www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk) focuses on the plight of our bees working with local wildlife groups and farmers to increase the bees chances of survival. Studies are being conducted on regional species with limited populations, the great yellow bumblebee in Scotland and the Carder Bee in England and Wales.

The short haired bumblebee was declared extinct in the UK but since 2000 but thanks to the trust land around Dungeress in Kent is now being restored to flower-rich meadows and field margins, with the hope that they can be re-established using a colony from New Zealand ( exported in the 19th century).

The Bee Guardian Foundation (www.beeguardianfoundation.org) hope to make the city of Gloucester a bee-friendly city in 2011, thanks a £50,000 grant from the lottery.

If you love the countryside and its wildlife as I do, then we can all make a small difference. For future generations, it’s important we help the bees today! So Bee-friendly and give a them a helping hand.