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Bees not only produce honey, they pollinate many of the plants and vegetation that we all consume. Indeed it is said that one in three mouthfuls of what we eat has depended on bees for pollination. Fruit and coffee trees, including the oranges that produce our breakfast juice, are all pollinated by bees. They even pollinate the animal feeds given to dairy cows to produce our milk. Bees are so important for the pollination of crops that Einstein once calculated mankind could only survive 4 years without bees. It is thus worrying that the last few years have seen a dramatic decline in bee populations.
Scientists cannot agree on the statistics or reasons behind the decline in bee populations. Some estimate that as many as 40 to 50% of bees have disappeared or died since 2007 alone. Theories proffered for the decline in numbers include the modern use of pesticides, the wet Summers and attacks by a mite that sucks the blood of bees to reduce their immune systems. Rather strangely, several bee keepers have reported the sudden disappearance of whole hives of apparently healthy bees, prompting some scientists to suggest that the increasing number of mobile telecommunication masts may be upsetting the bees’ navigation systems such that they are unable to find their way back to their hives. Whatever the reasons, this Colony Collapse Disorder is serious and we at Dunscar are mounting a campaign to help.
Dan Connor (Plantarea Manager) with members of the Ormskirk & Croston Bee Keepers
Dunscar’s gardening customers are in a great position to help the local bee populations. Bees depend on nectar and pollen produced by plants for food and will fly up to 2 miles to feed. We would like our customers to introduce into their gardens a range of plants attractive to bees and capable of feeding them during the key feeding months of the Spring and Summer. Some examples are listed below and a full list of the more widely available plants can be downloaded here. To help, we have set up a special grouping of some of these plants on our plantarea. We have also enlisted the help of out local bee keeping society to provide talks and demonstrations on site to our customers on how to create a bee friendly garden and even, for the enthusiastic, on how to keep bees. They advise us that it is a very rewarding hobby and also not too time consuming. We will put this to the test by setting up our own hive at the garden centre later this year and share our experience with our customers. More information on bee keeping can be found at www.ormskirkbeekeepers.co.uk.
Ken Clarke supporting Dunscar's "Save our Bees" campaign
Michaelmas Daisy, Heathers, Ivy, Sedum, Viburnum, Rose of Sharon and Verbena bonariensis
Interesting Bee Facts
“Bees have long been treated with respect in country lore. It was once customary for a member of a family to announce formally to a beehive that there had been a death in the family. If no one told the bees, there was a concern that they would abandon the hive to live elsewhere.”
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106 - 116 Southport New Road, Tarleton, Lancashire, PR4 6HY TEL: 01772 811111
