No bees, no fruits? No beans?
It is remarkable at the moment that the weather is off track, the plants are unsure what to do about it and a synchronicity of flowering, pollinating and fruit is far from easy to obtain presently.
We obtain our local honey from an enthusiast. He has been telling us for the last six months that he is unsure whether the bees will survive the climate change and when he came in this week, he glumly told us that 50% of his hives had not managed to survive the winter. 50% is a huge amount.
What seemed a possibility is now a certainty in our area : bee populations are severely damaged and this can only mean that British honey will die off and we will need to import our honey from the rest of the world at a premium cost. If we have no bees pollinating the orchards and fields, our crops will diminish and as such, farmers will have a harder time managing to create value crops. As a result of less insects too, birds will require us to supplement their diets with seeds and worms to keep them thriving.
If you love honey, go buy some as British honey may indeed become a rarity in the future.
5 comments:
Hello - I thought you might find this recent article to be of interest: http://news.findlaw.com/ap/f/1310/
/06-06-2008/20080606035004_41.html
It was in our local paper about a week ago.
Barbara- Georgia, USA
Hello again - sorry - I ended my earlier note too soon. The article is about how urban beekeeping is beginning to catch on over here.
B.
I agree with you Barbara, urban beekeeping would be a good idea. I think the more people look at beekeeping to pollinate their gardens, the more chance the bees will have to find plants in their vicinity to work with. Thanks for an informative article.
The decline in the bee populations is frightening. Honey apart bees pollinate many flowering fruit and vegetables from apples to asparagus.
As Albert Einstein said; "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."
Apparently the official bee organisation (can't think what it's called) is now thinking about importing wild bees as their population is now about a fifth lower than the norm, which is a lot.
I've noticed that we haven't been visited by any leaf-cutter bees this year (the one shrub they ALWAYS go for is completely untouched) and the garden in general doesn't have the same buzz about it.
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