You can help bees without owning a farm or a hive. The most useful things ordinary people can do are simple: give bees flowers from spring to autumn, leave them somewhere to nest, keep insecticides out of the garden, and support the beekeepers and projects that look after pollinators. Each of these works on a balcony, a backyard, a school ground or a street corner.
This guide explains why bees need the help, then walks through eight practical steps, with the reasons behind each one and a few common mistakes to avoid.
Why bees need a hand
Bees are among the most important pollinators on Earth. Scientists estimate that around three-quarters of the world’s leading food crops benefit at least partly from animal pollination, from apples and almonds to many citrus fruits, berries, squash and coffee. Wild plants depend on them too, and so do the birds and mammals that eat those plants’ seeds and fruit.
When most people picture a bee, they think of the honeybee, but it is only one of roughly 20,000 bee species described worldwide. Many wild bees, including bumblebees, mason bees and mining bees, are in trouble. The Honeybee Conservancy, a US nonprofit, sums up the main threats as habitat loss from development, pesticides, disease and a changing climate.
The decline has reached official endangered lists. In 2016 seven species of Hawaiian yellow-faced bees became the first bees protected under the US Endangered Species Act, and in 2017 the rusty patched bumble bee became the first bumblebee in the continental United States to be listed. In 2018 the European Union banned outdoor use of three neonicotinoid insecticides, largely because of their risk to bees.
Give bees places to live
1. Protect and create bee habitat
A honeybee gathering pollen from currant blossoms shows what bees need most: flowers, close together, near a place to nest. Habitat loss is one of the biggest pressures on bees, especially as towns spread into meadows and hedgerows.
The good news is that bee habitat does not have to be large. Small patches of wildflowers on balconies, school grounds, roadside verges and city street corners can act as stepping stones between bigger green spaces. Mowing parts of a lawn less often lets clover and dandelions bloom. If you want to go further, ask your local council to plant pollinator-friendly verges and parks, or join a community group that does.
2. Build or buy homes for solitary bees
This wooden bee hotel on a brick wall, packed with hollow stems and drilled holes, is a home for solitary bees. Only honeybees, and to some extent bumblebees, live in large colonies. Most bee species live alone: roughly 70 percent nest in the ground, and about 30 percent use tunnels in dead wood or hollow plant stems.
A bee hotel helps the cavity nesters. Place it in a sunny spot facing roughly south or south-east, about a metre or more off the ground, and protect it from rain. Hygiene matters: use tubes or blocks you can replace or clean every year or two, because crowded, dirty hotels can spread mites and fungi. For the ground nesters, simply leave a patch of bare, undisturbed soil. These bees will not give you honey, but they are excellent pollinators of fruit trees and garden plants.
3. Plant trees and flowering shrubs
A bee working white blossom on a bare spring branch is a reminder that trees matter as much as flower beds. A single flowering tree offers thousands of blooms at once, and early bloomers such as willows, maples and fruit trees supply vital food when little else is flowering. Later in the season, lindens (limes) and many shrubs are major nectar sources.
It is sometimes said that bees get most of their nectar from trees. That depends on the place and the season, but there is no doubt that trees are a large and often overlooked part of the bee menu, and that old trees also provide nesting cavities. Caring for existing trees, planting native species and supporting local tree-planting groups all help.
Feed and water them through the seasons
4. Plant a bee-friendly garden
A bumblebee on a lilac-coloured meadow flower in a summer field shows the kind of simple, open blooms bees love. A garden that feeds bees does not need to be wild or untidy; it just needs the right plants at the right times. Advice from The Honeybee Conservancy and other pollinator groups boils down to a few rules:
- Choose single, open flowers. Heavily bred double flowers often have little or no pollen or nectar, and some hybrids are sterile.
- Aim for something in bloom from early spring to late autumn, so there is never a hungry gap.
- Plant in clumps. Bees tend to work one kind of flower at a time, so a drift of the same plant is easier for them to use than single scattered stems.
- Favour native plants where possible, along with proven bee magnets such as lavender, thyme, borage, sunflowers and asters.
- Leave a corner undisturbed for ground-nesting bees.
5. Set out a bee bath
Honeybees perched on the rim of a shallow terracotta dish, sipping water among floating petals, show how easy this is. Bees need water to drink, to cool the hive and to dilute stored honey.
Fill a shallow dish with clean water and add pebbles, marbles or corks that stick out above the surface, so bees can land without drowning. Keep it in the same place, top it up regularly, and change the water every few days to stop mosquitoes breeding. A spot near flowers, slightly shaded, works well.
Keep harmful chemicals out
6. Avoid pesticides that harm bees
A dead honeybee on a weathered post is a sad but common sight where insecticides are used carelessly. Synthetic insecticides, especially systemic ones such as neonicotinoids that move into a plant’s pollen and nectar, are among the best-studied threats to bees. Weedkillers can also remove the wildflowers bees feed on.
The simplest step is not to spray at all. If you must treat a problem, target only the affected plant, never spray open flowers, and apply products in the evening when bees are back in their nests. Be aware that “organic” does not automatically mean bee-safe: some natural insecticides, such as pyrethrins and spinosad, are toxic to bees when wet. Encouraging natural predators, like ladybirds, lacewings and birds, is often gentler and more effective. Some gardeners release praying mantises too, but mantises eat any insect they catch, bees included.
Support the people who look after bees
7. Buy from local beekeepers
Colourful wooden hives with bees streaming in and out of the entrances represent a lot of quiet work. Keeping honeybees healthy means regular inspections, managing varroa mites and making sure colonies have enough food through winter.
Not everyone has the space or time to keep a hive, and beekeeping is a real commitment that should start with a course and a local mentor. Buying honey, beeswax candles, soaps and balms directly from local beekeepers keeps their hives going. Because honeybees usually forage within a few kilometres of home, local honey also comes from the flowers in your area.
8. Sponsor a hive or a bee project
A small, brightly painted hive decorated with a flower and a mossy roof is the kind of community project many groups now run. The Honeybee Conservancy, for example, runs a Sponsor-a-Hive programme that places honeybee hives and solitary bee homes at schools, gardens and community spaces across the US. Similar schemes exist in many countries through beekeeping associations and conservation charities.
Donating, volunteering or simply spreading the word helps these programmes grow, and many include education so that children learn early why pollinators matter.
Common myths about saving bees
“Saving the bees means keeping more honeybees.” Honeybees are managed livestock and are not at risk of extinction. Adding lots of hives to an area with few flowers can even increase competition with wild bees. Planting flowers and protecting habitat helps every species.
“Bees only need flowers in summer.” Queens of bumblebees emerge in early spring, and many species are still feeding in autumn. Gaps at either end of the season can be the hardest times.
“One balcony cannot make a difference.” Bees move between small patches. A street where several neighbours each plant a few pots can become a useful corridor.
A quick checklist
- Plant clumps of single, open flowers that bloom from spring to autumn.
- Leave some bare soil and old stems for nesting, or add a clean bee hotel.
- Put out a shallow water dish with stones.
- Skip insecticides, and never spray open flowers.
- Plant or protect flowering trees.
- Buy local honey and wax, and support a hive project if you can.
None of these steps is dramatic on its own, but together, and repeated in thousands of gardens, they add up to a landscape where bees can feed, nest and raise the next generation.
Sources: The Honeybee Conservancy; earlier coverage in Bored Panda; Wikipedia: Bee; Wikipedia: Pollinator decline; Wikipedia: Neonicotinoid; Wikipedia: Rusty patched bumble bee. Photos: Myriams-Fotos, rostichep, Seachild, Danie Ware, Max Pixel, Emilia_Baczynska, bernswaelz and Alexas_Fotos (Pixabay, Flickr, Max Pixel).
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete