Melissa Corkhill

By Melissa Corkhill

22nd February 2009

Across the world honey bee numbers are declining and fast. Billions of the UK’s bees are dying from unknown causes and one in three honey bee colonies in the UK were lost last winter alone.

Melissa Corkhill

By Melissa Corkhill

22nd February 2009

Melissa Corkhill

By Melissa Corkhill

22nd February 2009

Honey bees are very important for everyone. They pollinate more than 100 crops – including fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds – and these foods then go on to feed us and many other animals, including farm animals.

Scientists are not yet sure what is causing the huge decline in honey bee numbers. Scientists say it may be caused by a number of factors including:
• Disease from mite and virus infections. The varroa mite reached the UK in 1992 and now infests 95% of hives. Untreated bee colonies die in 3 to 4 years and even low populations of mites affects the bees’ health. Other notifiable diseases include American Foul Brood and European Foul Brood have all been found in some areas of the UK.
• Changing weather patterns. Recent wet and cold summers have prevented bees from foraging for food and have affected the time of year that forage plants appear.
• Loss of Habitat. Flower-rich grasslands in England have declined by 97% over 60 years, with similar losses elsewhere. This has hit the UK’s bumblebees particularly hard. A range of options are available to farmers to create useful habitat but if we can all work together to create a flower-rich countryside, this would help our UK honey bees, bumblebees and other pollinating insects surivive.
• Insecticides. Insecticides used to kill agricultural pests may harm bees if these are applied incorrectly or without care.

Whether you live in the countryside or the city, everyone across the UK can join in and plant bee friendly plants and more as part of the Save Our Bees campaign. Here you can register your interest to receive FREE seeds and an information pack full of activities for school or at home.

Get involved:
Swarm to Ness!
When: 7th March
Where: Ness Botanic Gardens, South Wirral
What: Ness Gardens are hosting a day of family friendly activities to launch the Save Our Bees campaign. Have you heard of the waggle dance? Bees use it to communicate. You can decipher and then perform the waggle dance with Natural History Theatre company Pif-Paf whose magnified inventions will bring the science of bees alive!

Busy Bees at INTECH!
When: 7th March
Where: INTECH Science Centre and Planetarium, Nr. Winchester, Hants
What: This family day will include make-your-own bee nests, seed-planting, information on suitable plants and why bees are dying out and much more! Take home hints, tips and free seeds to turn your back garden into a bee-friendly paradise.

Bee My Friend
When: 8th March (14:00 – 17:00)
Where: University of Leicester
What: Planned activities include; free bee-friendly seeds to plant in your garden, demonstration of bees flying, make your own bee nest, lots of information stalls, fascinating short talks and a question and answer session with a panel of experts.

Bee Aware Weekend
When: 7th – 8th March
Where: National Botanic Garden of Wales
What: The bee population is declining – what will this mean for the planet? Find out more at the National Botanic Garden of Wales by meeting beekeepers, studying hives and finding out how you can help by growing plants which will attract bees to your garden. During Science and Engineering Week they are celebrating bees and pollination through workshops, displays, talks and practical activities all related to these amazing creatures.

Bee Aware
When: Sunday 15th March (14:00 – 17:00)
Where: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
What: Sample honeys made from nectar from lots of different plants, look at honey under the microscopes, make bee finger puppets and take part in the pollination game outside.

Fascinating Bee Facts
• There are over 250 species of bee in the UK. Only one of these is the domesticated honeybee. There are 27 species of bumblebee and the rest are solitary bees of all shapes and sizes.
• To collect 450 grams of honey a bee might have to fly a distance equivalent to twice round the world. This is likely to involve more than 10,000 flower visits on perhaps 500 foraging trips.
• In a single collecting trip, a worker will visit between 50 and 100 flowers. She will return to the hive carrying over half her weight in pollen and nectar.
• Bees are not fast fliers; while their wings beat over 11,000 cycles per minute, their flight speed averages only 15 miles per hour. In comparison, the Australian dragonfly has been clocked flying at a speed of 36 mph.
• Bees possess five eyes. Three are simple eyes that discern light intensity, while two are large compound eyes that are designed for detecting movement. In fact, honeybees can perceive movements that are separated by 1/300th of a second (compared with humans who can only sense movements separated by 1/50th of a second).
• In one day a queen can lay her weight in eggs. She will lay one egg per minute, day and night.
• The queen decides the sex of her young. In a mechanism of sex determination known as haplodiploidy, fertilized eggs will become female offspring, while unfertilized eggs will become males.
• The economic value of crops grown commercially in the UK that benefit from bee pollination is estimated at approximately £165 million per year.

Further information can be found in issue 21 of The Green Parent magazine, an article about the declining bee population and what we can do in our gardens to support native species. In issue 23 as part of our Self-Sufficiency Feature we meet beekeeper Robert Bell and he explains why small scale beekeeping is so important and how to get started.

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