“I found some cinnabar caterpillars when I was at school. I took them home in my lunchbox”

This month, bee researcher Prof Dave Goulson talks to Helen Pilcher about the importance of creating a buzz in your back garden

Where does your interest in insects come from?

I think I was born this way. My earliest memories involve butterflies, bees and wildlife generally. I remember finding some stripy cinnabar caterpillars when I was at primary school. I took them home in my lunchbox then reared them on the windowsill in my bedroom. When I was 12, we went on a family holiday to Sweden and saw all these elephant hawkmoth caterpillars crossing the road. They were probably looking for somewhere to burrow and pupate but I spent most of the holiday picking them up and moving them to safety.

How did you come to work on bees?

My PhD was on butterflies, but then I got sidetracked by bees. I was sitting in a local country park watching bees, when I noticed that they don’t always land on the flowers they approach. With the help of a PhD student, we worked out why. It turns out the insects are ‘sniffing’ for previous bee visitors. There’s no point landing if the pollen or nectar has already been taken. After that, I was fascinated. Today, I research bee ecology, behaviour and conservation.

How are bees doing these days?

Not great. There are 270 species of bee in the UK, including 26 types of bumblebee and the one and only honeybee, but they’re mostly in decline. Habitat loss, disease and the use of pesticides are all to blame. There are seven or eight species of bumblebee that are now very hard to find and overall numbers are diminishing.

And it matters because... ?

A third of the food we eat is dependent on insect pollinators. The danger is that bees decline to a point where it affects crop pollination. This is already happening in some places. In parts of China, people have to paint pollen onto fruit trees by hand. Bees are also vitally important for wildflowers.

What can we do to help the bees?

It’s not all doom and gloom, there are lots of things we can do to help. Plant bee-friendly flowers like thyme and marjoram. Stop using insecticides and put up bee hotels. These don’t need to be expensive; just a bundle of bamboo sticks or a fence post with a few holes drilled in will do. If we could persuade everyone with a garden to do this, it would make a massive difference.

How often do you get stung?

I get stung fairly regularly but thankfully I’ve not become allergic to the stings. I have colleagues who have had to give up their work because they developed allergies to bee stings.

Where are you happiest?

In my meadow in France. I have a little farm in the middle of nowhere that I have turned into a nature reserve. Every summer we go for a month and potter about.

Are wasps evil?

No they’re not. Wasps are lovely! A lot of people don’t realise it but wasps are pollinators too. They are also food for birds and important natural enemies of the pests that feed on our garden plants.