Oh What a Glorious Thing to Bee

There are millions of bees on earth. Of the 20,000 different species of bees on earth, only a little more than 250 species are native to Britain. Furthermore, most of the species in Britain are the single pringles of the bee world, solitary bees. Solitary bees do not produce honey and tend to be more mild-mannered than other types of bees. Apis mellifera, is the only species of bee that makes honey in Britain and their hives are mostly kept and maintained by beekeepers. Wild hives of honeybees are a rarity.

What may surprise you is that honeybees’ ability to produce the sweet and sticky stuff isn’t really correlated with how effective they are as pollinators. Actually, solitary bees bear the buzzing bell when it comes to pollination, so it’s important to give them just as much attention. All species of bees, however, regardless of their characteristics, have been suffering from decline in recent decades due to environmental changes and the use of pesticides.

The average gardener can do a lot to support the bee population and reduce some of the effects of bee decline. Bees of course need pollen and nectar to have a healthy diet so filling your garden with plants that can provide them with that like buddleias is the easiest way to support them. Avoiding the use of pesticides is another good thing to do. If you want to go further, you can buy or build a bee nest box for solitary bees to nest in. However you decide to do it every small action helps with the maintenance of our precious pollinators.