Threats to the Honeybees

We all know that honey bees are having a tough time at the moment, it’s probably a little worse than you think (in the US there are reported losses of 40%).

You may have heard that the honey bee is threatened by all sorts of things from mites to insecticides. This is all true, but there is a more fundamental underlying problem, and for that we need to look no further than our front gardens.

Since the second world war we have changed how we garden.

We patio over everything, decking is favoured in place of herb gardens. Exotic flowers have come to replace our native species.

This all means the honey bee is starving.

How would you feel, if I reduced your food by 95% (that’s the loss of natural meadows)? I then exposed you to some nasty little diseases and poison half the food you have left. You think you might be doing so well?

The fundamental problem is easy to solve – we need to plant more honey bee friendly plants.

Note the honey bee friendly bit there.

honey bees have a shorter tongue than most bumble bee. This means a lot of the flowers that are advertised as bee friendly are in fact only bumble bee friendly.

We have a list of common honey bee friendly plants here.

This is something anyone can get involved with – no matter what your garden situation.