Help Save the Bees

Let it Bee

May 20^this World Bee Day so we thought we’d share a few words of wisdom on the subject. Over recent years, your green antennae have probably picked up the huge buzz about the decline of honey bees. Mites, fungi and viruses have all been blamed for their decline and what has become known as “Colony collapse disorder”. Declining bee populations have also led to the forthcoming EU ban on neo-nicotinoid pesticides. Of course, losing bees isn’t just a threat to our honey supply, without their pollinating work, a third of the world’s food supply would be under threat.

Blooming good news

Fortunately, there’s lots you can do to help. Planting nectar-bearing plants and ensuring you’ll have blooms from Spring through to Autumn provides bees a steady food supply. You can find out more about picking bee-friendly plants on the Bumblebee Conservation Trustwebsite. Mowing your lawn less often will also help – giving daisies, buttercups and clover the chance to flower. Make sure that you use pesticides that are harmless to bees and only spray later in the evening when the bees are back in the hive. Once you have created a bee friendly environment, why not contact a local beekeeper who could bring a hive of extra guests to stay with you or you could make a nesting box to house solitary bees.

To Bee or not to bee

It’s easier than you might think to keep bees if you do a little homework. And they are a great way to add to your green credentials. Imagine being able to serve visitors local organic honey for breakfast? Or sell or give them a pot of honey to take home as a delicious memento of their visit.  And there are lots of other healthy, green products you can make using honey, beeswax and royal jelly. Just one hive would add up to 80,000 workers to your staff. But before you get too excited – bear in mind that the average worker takes 6 weeks to make 1/12^thof a teaspoon of honey.

A taste of honey

Gold award holder Hickory, the luxury catering and event management company based near Edinburgh have kindly shared their recipe for Goat’s Cheese and Honey Canapés– full of sweetness and light and utterly delicious.

Time for you to do an online waggle dance.

One of the ways you can help bees worldwide is by spreading the word about their plight. Your first step should be to go to our Facebook page to like and share our World Bee Day post. The first 50 to get there will win a special seed bomb, jam-packed with plant species that your local bees will love. And if you take any of the actions we have suggested above, it’s a great opportunity to educate your visitors about how they could help bees at home and make the world a little bit greener. If you’ve already done your bit for bees or even started keeping bees yourself, why not wax lyrical on our Facebook page and inspire others to follow your lead. 

As a thank you to all the people who helped with this campaign, on Facebook we gave away Seed Bombs to plant in gardens 

HICKORY’S HONEY & GOAT’S CHEESE CANAPÉS

To make this recipe, see our blog post here