Spring 2020Bees

With warmer weather comes the inevitable buzz of spring and summer: the bumblebee.

Currently, there are 24 species of bumblebee in the UK, just one species of honeybee, and over 250 species of solitary bee.

Eight species of bumblebee (a third of those remaining) are currently listed on at least one of the English, Welsh and Scottish conservation priority species lists due to their  large-scale declines in distribution.

Seven species of bumblebee (the ‘Big Seven’) are widespread across most of Britain, including the Rochdale borough, and can be seen in your local gardens and parks: red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius), early bumblebee (Bombus pratorum), common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum), white-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lucorum), buff-tailed bumblebee  (Bombus terrestris), garden bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) and tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum).

According to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, declines in our bumblebee populations have occurred mainly because of large-scale changes to countryside management, including a public demand for cheap food, a constant demand for food and crops, not to mention less wildflowers.

97% of flower-rich meadows have been lost since 1937, just one action to have detrimentally affected bumblebee numbers.

Bumblebees only feed on flowers, requiring enough flowers to sustain a colony of hundreds over several months. Rarer species don’t venture far to forage, needing large quantities of diverse flowers to sustain their colonies.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust, a charity dedicated to increasing the numbers and distribution of bumblebees, says the easiest way to help our bumblebees is to plant wildflowers to flower between March and September.

They say: “Pollinator-friendly gardening is very important whether you have a balcony, a window box, a big garden, a road verge or a park.

“Although people often champion honeybees, which are mainly domesticated, the honeybee only visits a proportion of plant: recent research showed about 7% of flower visits were honeybees across gardens, parks, road verges, nature reserves and crops.

“Wild bees – bumble and solitary bees – are therefore essential for pollination and food production.”

Bee-friendly pollination and flowers

Bumblebees are very important for pollinating wildflowers and fruits: many commercial crops such as tomatoes, peas, apples and strawberries, are helped by pollinators and insects are estimated to contribute over £600 million per annum to the UK economy.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust warns that, if the bumblebee decline continues, the extremely high cost of pollinating these plants by other means could significantly increase the cost of fruit and vegetables (hand-pollinating British crops has been estimated to cost £1.8 billion annually).

You can help by planting flowers like borage, hellebore, lungwort, comfrey and catmint in the shade, whilst herbs, crocuses, lavender, geraniums, honeysuckles and sunflowers are perfect food for bees in the sun.

Don’t forget to check toxicity of flowers before planting as some varieties can be harmful to pets and children.

Certain plants have flower shapes that bumblebees cannot use - some flowers have petals that form long tunnels which are too long or narrow for the bees to feed from. Similarly, flowers with multiple tightly packed heads offer bees very little accessible food.

Other flowers may not be suitable because they produce little or no pollen and nectar, such as pansies and double begonias.

You should avoid using any pesticides in your garden. They are often labelled as ‘bug killers’ or something similar, but almost all of these can harm bumblebees, even if you don’t intend to harm them.

Did you know? 

• Dandelions are often the first source of food for bees in a new season, so don’t use pesticides on them. Save them and give our bee friends an additional boost at the start of the year.
• Bumblebees won’t die if they sting you, unlike honeybees. Whilst bees are not aggressive, it’s only female bees that can sting, as male bees do not have a stinger.
• The spring temperatures awaken hibernating queen bees. After she wakes and feeds, she starts to look for a suitable nest site. This can be anything from a hole in the ground to a bird box, or even under a garden shed.