Buzzing about World Bee Day
DID you know that bees provide us with every third mouthful of food we eat? Without bees, we would be unable to grow lots of our favourite foods, including tomatoes, blueberries, green beans and grain to feed animals. As well as being fascinating insects, these creatures are a vital part of our world and need our help!
Why are bees under threat?
» A loss of habitat and habitat fragmentation
» A large reduction in plant species diversity
» Pesticide use
» Climate change
Bees rely on a diverse range of landscapes to find food and shelter, including meadows, hedgerows, field margins, urban gardens and your local park. They all need to be interconnected for the future survival of bees.
So what can we do to help bees? Here’s a few ideas...
Make a bee hotel
The majority of bees in our country are solitary bees, so do not live in a colony. You could create a bee hotel in your garden, local area, school or workplace and offer them 5 star accommodation!
It’s easier and cheaper than you think – David Ward messaged us about his experience making a bee hotel. His first attempt was quite small and not successful, so tried a larger bee hotel the second time around. After a few attempts it became very popular with the bees, particularly after he started using drilled wooden blocks instead of cardboard tubes. David told us: “I would recommend such a project to any back garden wildlife enthusiast. P.S. I have never been stung!”
Give your bee hotel differentsized holes on untreated wood or clay, with plenty of hollow stems of different diameters (2-10mm). A good tip is to make sure your bee hotel is protected from the rain.
Wildlife friendly gardening
Planting nectar and pollen-rich flowers, especially native wildflowers will keep our bees buzzing. By taking part in campaigns such as #NoMowMay in your garden, long and short grasses create a marvellous mini meadow.
The Grow Wilder nursery has many pollinator-friendly wildflowers for sale, you can see them on display around the site, pick up some advice from our friendly nursery team and check out the many examples of bee hotels while you’re there.
Encourage natural predators
Try to avoid pesticides in your garden, this will encourage natural predators. Log piles are great for beetles, as are compost bins.
Bee curious
Download the iNaturalist app and you be able to identify your
hairy-footed flower bee from your red mason bee! You’ll also be contributing data which will be used by scientists and researchers. The free app is child friendly and identifies, maps and shares observations of bees and all biodiversity on your doorstep.
You can also join local wildlife groups to increase and share your knowledge about bees, or attend one of our identifier courses – find one for you on www.avonwildlifetrust. org.uk/events
Local community spaces
There are many opportunities to increase wildlife friendly habitats by not mowing grass verges, open spaces and on edges of parks. Local community groups also have the power to campaign to protect local spaces.
Bee on the lookout
We work with B-Lines, set up by the charity Buglife, to connect pollinator projects around the UK, to create a series of ‘insect pathways.’
Plus initiatives such as the West of England Combined Authority’s Bee Bold Awards encourages local businesses to take action for pollinators.
So bee kind this World Bee Day, and take action to save our pollinator pals: https://www.avonwildlifetrust. org.uk/actions