Tefnut's Environmental and Drought News Article
You wouldn't get a cat to save the tigers, or keep chickens to help save the birds, so why are so many people taking up beekeeping in a bid to save the bees?
I think I'm well qualified to answer this, because 15 years ago I fell for the narrative too and took up what I thought was the perfect ecotopian hobby. I wanted to help "save the bees". But I discovered that keeping bees was not the answer, and that it's not the honeybee that needs saving.
I learnt a lot from the honeybees; that although they are the only species in the country that make honey, there are an incredible 280 other species of bees within the UK. I learnt that honeybees are not the best pollinators; that one mason bee does the pollination work of 120 honeybees; and that unlike our honeybees, it's our native bees and other pollinators that are in trouble. I also discovered that school children are almost always only taught about honeybees and sadly have little understanding of the vital role of other insects.
Today I still have a huge love and respect for honeybees: they were my stepping stone into the wonderful world of pollinators. But living with them opened my eyes to the reality that saving the honeybee does not help our wildlife, and diverts attention away from our wild pollinators.
"There is plentiful evidence that honeybees can out-compete our wild pollinators, taking much of the available pollen and nectar, particularly when large numbers of hives are kept together," explains Dave Goulson, an author, renowned scientist and professor of biology at the University of Sussex, specialising in the ecology and conservation of insects, particularly bumblebees. "Bumblebees tend to be smaller in areas where there are plentiful honeybees, and their nests grow more slowly. Honeybee hives can also spread diseases to wild insects, such as deformed wing virus."
Save the right bees
"Although the call to save bees has captured public imagination, the message has been oversimplified so that we typically only think of saving honeybees," says Phil Stevenson, head of trait diversity and function at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
"In fact, we should protect all our pollinators and highlight the importance of wild bee species, not just honeybees, and even raise awareness of the potential harm caused by too much beekeeping in some urban settings. Wild pollinator populations across the board are in decline, whereas honeybees have become the dominant species, which has led to a degree of competition over access to food between the two. Unfortunately, evidence suggests honeybees now have the upper hand in cities."
City life
Central London is buzzing for all the wrong reasons. The number of honeybee colonies in the capital has more than doubled over the past 10 years, and continues to rise. Data from the London Beekeepers Association (LBKA) shows that in some areas there are more than 50 honeybee colonies within one square kilometre. That's 50 times what is considered to be a healthy density.
As a result, the LBKA has issued a London Bee Situation statement, and is calling for a broader and more balanced and responsible interest in bees – all bees – and other pollinators.
"It's not the honeybee's fault that we are in the situation we're in, it's a man-made problem," explains Mark Patterson of the LBKA. "We've changed the landscape, reduced the floral resources, meddled with the bee's biology, morphology and behaviours through breeding programmes, and forced them to live in thermally inefficient, resource-costly, manmade boxes."
According to his colleague at the LBKA, chair Richard Glassborow, "Much of this situation has arisen through the mistaken 'honeybee decline' narrative, which is often shortened to 'bee decline'. Many people start keeping honeybees to help bees, but honeybees are not in decline and never have been. This is a biodiversity issue as well as an animal welfare issue for the honeybees."
We need a better-informed narrative
There is no question that responsible beekeepers love their bees. Some of the issues have been exacerbated by the incorrect installation of corporate beehives within cities, to satisfy box-ticking agendas to meet environmental and sustainability ideals.
The number of hives keeps on rising. In the UK there has been a 40 per cent increase since 2015 in the number of registered colonies to just under 300,000.
"Paradoxically, these small stinging insects have endeared themselves to the hearts and imagination of the public," says Richard Glassborow. "But in truth, they can reveal our careless relationship with biodiverse ecosystems without which the world would stop turning.
"This is a delicate issue for responsible beekeepers. There are many benefits to urban beekeeping, including wellbeing and understanding of, and engagement with, the natural world. People do not become beekeepers to inadvertently mistreat animals or harm wildlife. We desperately need a better-informed narrative. If people really want to keep bees, we at the LBKA will help them. If people want to help bees – all bees – we will help them plant flowers."
Plant trees for the bees
Lots of flowers in one place makes efficient feeding for pollinators. But often trees are overlooked. Just three suitable, established trees have similar floral resources to an acre of meadow.
Recent research from the University of East Anglia discovered that wild bees are active high up among the trees' branches and foliage above the shade. The research revealed that woodland canopies may play a more significant role in bee conservation than previously thought, and that nectar- and pollen-rich sycamore trees were particularly attractive to bees.
Research at Kew has shown how certain tree species across the UK not only provide copious quantities of nectar and pollen for all bees, but also contain "medicinal" compounds that can help pollinators manage or prevent disease.
"One way to reduce the amount of competition between pollinators, particularly in cities with worryingly high concentrations of honeybees, is by promoting an abundance of flowering trees throughout the season," says Phil Stevenson.
"Tree blossom is highly attractive to honeybees and its abundance can lower the load of honeybees on other flowering plants, which may be more beneficial to specialised species of wild bees. This can help facilitate a more harmonious coexistence between beekeepers and pollinator diversity."
Jean Vernon's latest book, 'Attracting Garden Pollinators', is out now.
Putting the buzz into Chelsea
Gardeners are aware of the vital role of pollinators and strive to grow more to feed these precious creatures. But there is so much more we can do to make our plots work harder. With this in mind, two gardens have been designed to inspire and educate visitors.
Eco housing and habitats
On the Main Avenue at Chelsea, the Royal Entomological Society (RES) Garden has been designed (by Tom Massey) to illustrate valuable garden elements for wildlife, and is infused with secret habitats that support biodiversity in subtle but powerful ways.
Elements that can be adopted into gardens large and small, to help support insects, include: water, both standing and free-flowing, which is an essential element for life and especially beneficial to aquatic insects; dead wood, in the form of a specially designed tree sculpture made of cross sections of a tree trunk, and dead wood piles filling gabion frames, which form part of the garden boundaries; rammed-earth floors and walls, which invite boring insects to create nesting places and hideaways; hoggin pathways, which are fully permeable, allowing insects to access freely all parts of the garden and the earth it has been created on; piles of rubble, which are packed into gabion frames to allow insects (and other valuable garden wildlife) to shelter and hide.
The plants in the garden have also been chosen to support pollinators and other beneficial insects, providing a wide range of food sources. Some of these plants are often considered to be weeds, such as dandelions, clover, vetch and knapweed. The garden is also seasoned with a collection of trees, such as hawthorn, silver birch, Scots pine and hazel, which are vital for insects.
"What is key for the insects, and has been achieved with Tom's design and planting, is the season-long provision of nectar [sugar], pollen [broadly protein], shoots and leaves [a range of nutritional benefits]," says Dr Luke Tilley of the RES.
"This is to benefit the greatest diversity of insects over the longest season possible, so it was important to choose plants with flowering times across the year. Vetch and knapweed also have extra-floral nectaries that provide sugar for insects away from the flowers, at leaf nodes and from stems – this is used by many insects, including ants and other predators that eat some of those insects 'less desirable' to gardeners."
Bumble bee action
Charity the Bumblebee Conservation Trust is spotlighting the UK's 24 native bumblebee species and how making small changes to our gardens can attract them via its Bee the Change campaign, which will be the focus of an exhibit at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show from May 23 to 27.
The stand features two mirroring garden spaces: one that offers little value to our bumblebees (and other pollinators) and another that showcases simple actions that, accumulatively, can make a big difference. For example:
1. Replace non-flowering grasses and shrubs with long-flowering herbaceous perennials and annuals: this is a low-maintenance way of providing food for bumblebees that also leaves soil undisturbed for solitary mining bees and some nesting bumblebees
2. Replace a short lawn with a flower-rich lawn, which is infinitely more beneficial to wildlife in terms of floral resources.
3. Leave untidy/wild areas to provide safe overwintering and nest sites
4. Replace sterile water features with a small wildlife pond. Even insects need to drink, so use rocks or pebbles to create a safe spot where they can drink without drowning
5. Use garden space creatively. Spaces between paving and vertical planting can provide more food for pollinators
Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk//
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