Bees in peril.
Almost daily we read about beekeepers
losing whole colonies of bees. We also learn that due to changes in
agriculture and the use of pesticides, the world's bee population is under
severe threat. The greatest risk, however, is to we humans. All species
of bees - bumble bees, solitary bees and honey bees - are vital for pollination
of the crops we depend upon to feed us. If you love honey where will you
get it if the bees go?
We cannot just simply blame the farmers. Yes, pesticides
are quite likely to be a factor - and it is not just farmers who use pesticides
- we gardeners do as well. But that is not the only reason for the loss
of bees. In every highly industrialised country, the car is a vital tool
for communication and the mobility of workers, but it swallows space -
particularly for parking. Millions of gardens which previously had flowers
are now covered over with paving or tarmac and the space is lost to the
bees - the pollinators.
Attracting bumble bees and honey bees to your garden
A typical manicured lawn - there are millions like them
- but they are bee and wildlife deserts.
Below is a bee friendly wildflower meadow with Buttercups,
Thymeleaved Speedwell and Germander Speedwell in view.
A bit further back showing daisies and orange hawkweed
- how big do you think? A hectare? Bigger?
No - just a small suburban front lawn - next to the manicured
ones, now showing Birdsfoot Trefoil - the group of small yellow flowers
on the edge of the lawn below the red car.
Below is a closeup. Top left corner, the yellow flowers
are birds-foot trefoil with white clover in the centre and the blue flowers
bottom and right are Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris). A few buttercups are
also waving their nectar cups. All bees, honey bees and bumble bees, love
these wild flowers.
In this small front garden, under the flight path of Manchester
airport, a total of 13 different species of nectar-rich wildflowers appear
during the summer. At the time this photo was taken, 5th of June 2009,
there are the following species either in bloom or shortly to flower:
Buttercup, Black Medick, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Daisies, Germander
Speedwell, Mouse-eared Chickweed, Orange Hawkweed, Ragwort, Selfheal,
Thyme-leaved Speedwell and White clover.
The Dandelion and Ladysmocks have just finished flowering.
All these wildflowers have self-seeded simply by careful mowing and being
left alone for nature to do its work. Sandra will show you how later.
 And
this is just one reward for the effort:
A buff-tailed bumble bee sipping nectar from an Orange
Hawkweed.
So whats wrong with a neat, closely mown lawn? Yes it may
look neat and tidy, but it is sterile - nothing for bees to feed from.
Not only that, but what I call the "tyranny of the lawn" reigns
supreme.
Everyone seems terrified to be different. The sight of
a daisy in the lawn is enough to send some people into paroxysms of shock
as they frantically scalp the lawn with their electric or petrol lawn
shavers - in some cases daily.
Why? What is so dreadful about wild flowers? Let them grow
and see the bumble bees flock to them. You and your family will get the
thrill of seeing all manner of bees and other insects visiting them.
No, I am not being holier than though. I used to be a lawn
shaver - until I got fed up with the dreariness of continually mowing
and the enormous expense of "weed" control - weeds being ANYTHING
that wasn't grass. When I got lazy and allowed the grass to get longer
and stopped spending good money on weed killers, I found that I preferred
the sight of a less formal garden.
Sixteen years ago, when I met my partner, I was amazed
to see just how attractive a scruffy garden can be - particularly to bees.
In the past three years, we have been transforming my own "concrete
garden" into a scruffy - nay - totally unkempt wildlife haven.
This website is a record of our struggle to bring nature
back to a tiny patch of ground in the urban jungle of Greater Manchester.
We hope to be able to convince you to let at least some of your garden
go wild. I promise you, you will not regret it - and the bees will love
you for it.
It's our small contribution to saving the bees - all 23
species of UK Bumble Bee plus honey bees and of course, birds and butterflies
- not to mention frogs.
We will be adding pages over the next few months with,
we hope, lots of interesting information on gardening to attract wild
life, so do come back - often. Meanwhile have look here
and here:The
Bumble Bee Conservation Trust
Any suggestions or advice you amy
have to help save the bees, please email us.
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type the address into your email program
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