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World Bee Day – what are you doing to help the bees?
May 20, 2021Archives
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Today is World Bee day, a time to reflect on the important role of bees and other pollinators in our ecosystem. #WorldBeeDay
The importance of bees to both the environment and our economy is more significant than you might realise, and their populations are under threat.
Bees are vital to our way of life. They pollinate food crops, fertilising plants to produce fruit, vegetables, and seeds.
Bees and other insect pollinators including butterflies, other insects, birds and bats, together pollinate 87% of all plant species, and about 75% of crop species. Without bees it has been estimated that supermarkets would have half the amount of fruit and vegetables on offer!
Can you imagine life without apples, tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, cherries, chocolate, coffee, and much more? What would we do without honey? Honey is a much valued food and has also been used as an antiseptic and treatment for wounds and burns for centuries.
A further decline in bees or even extinction would have a knock-on effect on the makeup of our ecosystems. Bees contribute significantly to the pollination of wildflowers that provide the basis of many food chains.
If we don't look after our bees numerous flowering plants could disappear from natural ecosystems, leading to a collapse of biodiversity and dire consequences on our own food supply.
Types of bees
Did you know three different types of bees in the UK?
There are bumblebees, solitary bees, and honey bees - over 280 bee species in total, which are all important pollinators.
Globally there are more honey bees than other types of bee and pollinating insects, so it is the world's most important pollinator of food crops.
Bee populations are threatened by a number of factors, including habitat loss due to agriculture and farming, urban and suburban development, pesticides, climate change, and disease. Find out more about bumblebees from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust
Easy ways to help the bees
Butterflies, moths, bees and hoverflies all need sources of nectar and pollen to thrive. As they travel from flower to flower, they also pollinate them, enabling them to set seed or bear fruit.
There are lots of small, easy steps you can take to help bees thrive:
- Avoid using pesticides on gardens
- Mow the grass less often
- Plant more nectar-rich flowers, shrubs, and trees
- Think twice before you ‘tidy’ your garden - leaving a wild corner can offer nesting sites for solitary bees
- Leave more of our gardens blooming rather than turning them into decking or parking areas
- Having early and late flowers in your planting mix will prolong the nectar season. Primrose, aubretia, and buddleia for spring, honeysuckle, lavender, and ivy for early summer and scabious, and daisy for late summer
- Plant flowers in drifts creating a nectar café! This helps bees recognise them and allows them to visit repeatedly
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust have some great tips on how to attract bees to your garden
Create a bee hotel
Unlike the familiar bumblebee and honeybee, most of our bees do not make colonies but are actually solitary. The female spends most of her life searching for suitable nesting sites. Some species will nest in holes in the ground, while others look for old beetle holes or hollow stems in which to lay their eggs. You can help by creating a bee hotel in your garden.
What are B-Lines?
Have you heard of B-Lines? B-Lines are a series of wildflower-rich habitat stepping stones linking existing wildlife areas together. Creating a series of “insect pathways” like a railway network, enables wildlife to travel across our countryside, towns and cities, as our climate and landscape changes.
Why do we need action?
Our bees, butterflies and hoverflies have suffered badly over the last fifty or so years, due to changes in land use, urban spread and increased transport links. Over 97% (an area the size of Wales) of all flower-rich grasslands has been lost in England since the 1930s, reducing pollen and nectar sources resulting in a serious decline in wildlife. It has been predicted that 40-70% of species could become extinct if action is not taken to enable wildlife to move through the landscape.
The Benefits of B-Lines
B-Lines bring a range of benefits to wildlife, people and agriculture, including:
- conserving our native pollinators and a range of other wildlife to sustain biodiversity
- helping wildlife respond to climate change by making it easier for them to move around
- increasing the number of insect pollinators which are essential for farming
- bringing nature to people and encouraging everyone to play their part and help create the B-Lines network
B-Lines have been mapped across the UK - find out if you live on or near a B-Line.
During the #Covid-19 crisis lockdown people have had more time to connect with nature and have turned back to gardening. I hope our little blog on bees will inspire you to give the bees an extra helping hand!
David
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Hoe Grange Holidays Tripadvisor Comments...
- vincent s
lovely surroundings real farm country with chickens paying you a visit nice decking area to chill at the end of the day accommodation very good plenty to do nearby... read more 
July 28, 2019plopster1 We had a lovely time staying in one of the incredibly well equipped pods. I bought my pony along and we had some great rides on the high peak trail.... read more
June 7, 2019HelenLCarter We stayed in Skylark, one of the two glamping pods available at Hoe Grange in February 2020.
Felicity & David welcomed us when we arrived to show us around... read more
February 6, 2020
