Disappearing bees

greenbee

I saw this documentary last night which provided a lot of food for thought on current farming practices

http://vanishingbees.co.uk/#

I thought it might be of interest to people on this board. It's certainly made me determined to stick to my principles around organic/homegrown food and continue to try to improve biodiversity within the limits of my own garden (so say goodbye to the lawn... and hopefully the lawn mower!)

A_fiend_for_life

I think I saw something a few months back saying bees are worth someting like £700 million worth of GDP. ?? er bread and mushrooms anyone ?

Ken68

It's never seemed right to me, looting their food supply, and monoculture at its worst.

foxgloves

We garden organically, have hedges both sides, flower borders, veg, 3 fruit trees and a wildlife pond and we do see a lot of different types of bees. I'd quite like to have a hive but feel daunted as a complete beginner & wonder if this would be recommended in a residential area despite long garden. I read somewhere that established beekeepers are often happy to site a hive in other people's gardens if suitable, then arrange times to come over and do any maintenance. I might possibly look into that. I'm sure one of the biggest problems for bee populations has been monoculture style farming & pesticides. We really are the most stupid arrogant species on the planet! I've bought an ID chart for next Spring/Summer so we can try & identify some of the different bees that visit our garden. The other great thing about them is that they often visit the plants which are usually the easiest to grow. Used to get quite a lot of red tailed bumble bees, but barely see one now.

Ken68

If you grow the same crop in the same land forever, you will get disease and a poor strain.
Same with the bees. Let them free and they will decide what is best for themselves.

greenbee

Turns out there's even more to it...

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/336829/agrichemical_companies_are_both_breeding_and_killing_bees.html

A_fiend_for_life

From the article above:

The UK Government department responsible for wildlife, Defra, claims the industry is small and that, 'all bumblebee imports already need to receive a health certificate from the exporting country so they don’t spread disease, and we work with industry on the risks to native species and safeguards.'

I'd have thought food / livestock imports are tested from a representative batch by the importing country so why not bees / hives?

Given the problem in parts of Germany and Austria with neo-nicotinoids and the subsequent ban have Defra done anything to look at the spread of CCD and neonicotinoid seeds within the UK?

greenbee

A_fiend_for_life wrote: »

Given the problem in parts of Germany and Austria with neo-nicotinoids and the subsequent ban have Defra done anything to look at the spread of CCD and neonicotinoid seeds within the UK?

From everything I've seen... it appears that they haven't! Maybe our beekeepers need to do what the French do - either demonstrate, strike, or both! At least that way they got some action.

chopperharris

My garden had no bees in numbers that were noticable , i planted it with lavender a couple of years ago and now i have plenty.

They arent bumble bees , they look more like honey bees.

Perhaps if we werent filling our garden with sh1te from bnq we would see the numbers increase?

We mow our grass so there is no daisy and dandielions , weed out plants from our borders , plant leylandii instead of the boxus which attracts them , rip out plants ironically to replace with non indiginous plants that are pretty much weeds abroad.

The bees arent dying off , they are being killed off.

I hate bees , and wasps ,well hates a harsh word its more like as they say oop here sheet feart , but in my garden for some strange reason what ever i have flying around are calm and very dosile.

oldsam

I went to Malvern Autumn Garden show in 2008 , While I was there paid a visit to the stand of the Worcestershire Beekeepers Assoc. where we completed a petition to No. 10 requesting additional funding for research into the problem surrounding colony collapse among Bees - As a result of all the efforts put by people working in the countryside £10 million has been awarded and Sussex Uni. will carry some of the work along with other national bodies to find an answer here in the British Isles.
We can all help here by sowing small annual flowers in our little patch in the garden, The best pure honey is produced in urban areas now because we have a better forage for the Bees - Would you like rape flower 24 hours a day! therein lies part of the problem. Think of this our national tree the Oak when in flower the canopy will be covered in bees - no bees- no acorns Also on lighter note where I be able to show a child talking snapdragons flowers pure magic look on their faces , Then see bees pop out and you explain a bit about nature - worth every penny of £10 million .