Tuesday 2 December 2014

Bees support BKIP

My bees have decided to vote BKIP in next year’s election.

I was astonished, “Surely you‘re not worried about over-population. Aren't honey bees in decline?”

There was a hollow laugh from inside the hive, “That’s just propaganda put out by the eco-warriors and bee-huggers!”

It turns out my bees were right. UK honey bee colonies fell steadily from 1957 to 2005 as beekeeping declined in popularity, but since 2007 the number of beekeepers has more than doubled from 11,000 to 24,000 today. More beekeepers mean more hives, which means more honey bees.

I was still sceptical, “What about all those headlines we read about bees dying out?” I asked.

“They’re muddling up honey bees and bumblebees,” explained a worker.  “And they are confusing the position elsewhere with the situation in England,” added another.

So it's bumblebees, butterflies and other insects that are in decline. It’s hardly surprising. Since the Second World War we have lost over 95% of our wild flower meadows. Hedgerows have been ripped out and vast tracts of our countryside are now barren monoculture.

 But it still didn't explain why my bees are planning to vote BKIP.

“It’s the housing,” said one.

“What, not enough housing?” I queried.

“No, too much!” came the exasperated reply.

All over the Thames Valley gardens are being lost due to in-fill development. Food is becoming scarcer for the honey bees at a time when the population of has doubled. Competition with other pollinators is tough so during the summer months the bees have to fly even greater distances to find food.

“We don’t need more honey bees – we need more flowers,” was the unanimous view.

“Yes, but they have to be the right type of flowers. Seventy-five percent of garden flowers are either useless or of little use to pollinators. What we need are insect friendly flowers that can feed all sorts of insects including butterflies, hover flies, bumblebees and honey bees.”

I realised my bees weren’t being ‘bee-ist’; they simply wanted to help all pollinators. It got me wondering. “What does BKIP stand for?” I asked.

Be Kind to Insect Pollinators!” they roared in unison.

Someone who is being kind to pollinators is James Headington of Paley Street Farm near Maidenhead. Take a look at this video clip of his field margins this summer.



You could do something similar. Please support the National Pollinator Strategy by planting insect friendly plants in your gardens, window boxes and school fields.

Resources:
The RHS provide a list of plants perfect for pollinators:
Natural England also explains how to make a wild flower meadow in your garden in this document: