Gardening Blog
Allotment Diary
November 11, 2008: the plight of the humble bee
Terry Walton explains how honey bee populations are being decimated by mites - and what will happen to us, and the food we depend on, if they disappear altogether
After the wet summer we endured, the pay back has been a beautiful show of autumnal colours on the leaves of the trees. These have been the richest colours of brilliant yellows and reds interspersed with gold and russet. This splendid sight has warmed the autumn daytime in the darkest, dingiest time of the year.
However last weekend brought most of that sight to an abrupt end as those high winds blew and those heavy rains fell. The valiant fight to remain on the branches was lost and cascades of these beauties were brought to earth. In the swirling winds they chased each other around like excited children in a playground running after that imaginary object they cannot catch. They finally, as if exhausted, hide away in a sheltered corner away from the ravaging wind.
The final iniquitous act is for the gardener to sweep these into a pile and collect them in the undignified black plastic bag. Such an unfitting end for something, that during its prime, acted as the lungs of the world, disposing of copious amounts of our polluting carbon dioxide.
Still they will provide the gardener with a good soil improver of leaf mould at a later date.
All that is left to grace our skyline now is those drab, skeletal forms to add to the glumness of the season.
I now turn my attention to one of the gardener's best allies, the humble (not bumble) honey bee. After two consecutive wet summers I have a lot of sympathy for these poor creatures.
Many articles are being written about the plight of this very important creature to both the gardener and farmer alike.
Bees and plants have a symbiotic relationship, both benefiting from each other's existence. The bees get their food from the pollen of the plants and the plants in turn reproduce from the beneficial effects of this pollination.
Without this dependant relationship large amounts of our food source would cease to exist. The orchards would be decimated and the fruit we take so much for granted would no longer provide part of our ‘five a day’ healthy diet.
It is not only the poor weather that is having a dramatic effect on hives populations but these hives are under attack from the verroa mite. These mites attack the bees in the hive and their blood sucking activities spread a variety of viruses throughout the hive.
Man has also played its destructive part in the decimation of bee populations due to indiscriminative use pesticides. The drive for more and cheaper food leads to more spraying to protect these crops but this has the negative effect of killing both foes and allies.
There must be more emphasis on organic methods and the small incremental costs that may bring.
Bees are a great barometer of the health of the environment and, without a successful co-existence between us, much of the diversity of plant life could be lost forever. We must all help in providing bee-friendly areas in our gardens and plant items that are beneficial to sustaining bee populations.
Not only are we losing the crops that we all so much love the other loss will be that wonderful by product of sweet, sticky honey. This is one of life’s natural substances that have many beneficial uses. Where would we ‘BE’ without our honey and lemon cold remedy?
Next time you observe one of these industrious creatures at work, marvel at its place in our life and give it all the help you can.
Much of our future needs depend on this yellow and brown striped marvel and let’s not leave it to late to provide our assistance or it maybe gone before we know it.
Such is the resourcefulness of gardeners that the demise of the bee population will not be allowed to happen and they once again will be found in ever-increasing numbers.
- The Plight of the Honey Bee - read Julian Champkin's full-length feature in Saga Magazine
- How to make leaf mould
- Garden wildlife - from badgers to butterflies
- Creature comforts: how to encourage biodiversity in your garden
- Honey makes the world go round - so why not try our 'Beekeeping for Beginners' experience? Find out more here
- Terry Walton's allotment sagas archive
My Life On A Hillside Allotment
Terry Walton is a regular contributor to The Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2 and has written a book called, My Life on a Hillside Allotment, published by Bantam Press. The book is available from Amazon
Reader comments
Good to read this positive reference to the honey bee. Thank you for writing about the problems the honeybee now faces. The illustration however is not of a honeybee but of some other insect. Illustrations and more on this story will be found on www.Britishbee.org.uk, the web site of The British Beekeepers Association. For myself I hope that my 10 colonies of honeybees will safely survive through the winter.
Posted by: Diane | 14/11/2008 18:41:57
