World Bee Day – Let’s celebrate and help the bees

World Bee Day – Let’s celebrate and help the bees

Buzz, buzz! Can you hear it? It’s the sound of bees working hard to pollinate our flowers and crops. These tiny creatures play a crucial role in maintaining the balance of our ecosystem. However, did you know that bees are facing serious threats due to habitat loss and human activities? That’s why we celebrate World Bee Day every year on May 20th to raise awareness about bee conservation efforts and show appreciation for these amazing insects. In this blog post, we’ll explore how you can join the buzz and make a difference by supporting bee conservation through simple yet meaningful gestures like sending bee ecards or giving beekeeper gift ideas. Let’s get started!

 

Understanding World Bee Day: A Global Celebration of Bees

World Bee Day is a global initiative that was officially recognized by the United Nations in 2018. It aims to raise awareness about the importance of bees and other pollinators for our food security, biodiversity, and sustainable development.

The date May 20th was chosen as World Bee Day because it marks the birth anniversary of Anton Janša, a pioneer of modern beekeeping techniques from Slovenia. This day provides an opportunity to celebrate the contributions made by bees to our planet and recognize their critical role in maintaining ecological balance.

Through various events and activities organised worldwide on this day, people get educated about the challenges faced by bees such as habitat loss, climate change, pesticide use and how we can help protect them through conservation efforts.

In recent years many organisations have come forward with creative ways to spread awareness on World Bee Day like art exhibitions featuring honey bees or hosting outdoor picnics centred around bee-themed foods. Celebrating World Bee Day is not only limited to one particular region but has become a global celebration toward creating public interest in protecting these tiny creatures who are essential for sustaining life on Earth.

 

Join the Buzz: How to Participate in World Bee Day

World Bee Day is a global celebration of bees, but it’s also an opportunity to take action and help protect these vital pollinators. Here are some ways you can participate in World Bee Day:

1. Plant bee-friendly flowers: Bees rely on flowers for food, so planting nectar-rich plants like lavender, sunflowers, and daisies can provide them with the sustenance they need.

2. Avoid using pesticides: Pesticides can be harmful to bees (and other beneficial insects), so try to avoid using them in your garden or yard.

3. Learn about beekeeping: If you’re interested in becoming a beekeeper or just want to learn more about how honey bees live and thrive, there are plenty of resources available online or at your local library.

4. Support bee conservation organisations: There are many nonprofit organisations that work to protect bees and their habitats through research, education, advocacy, and community outreach.

5. Send a Bee Ecard as a meaningful gesture: A simple yet impactful way to show support for bee conservation is by sending someone special a Bee Ecard – not only will this raise awareness about the importance of saving the bees but also serve as inspiration for others.

Joining the buzz on World Bee Day is just one small step towards making our world a better place for all living creatures – including us! By working together as individuals and communities we really have nothing to lose when it comes down to doing our bit to save these important allies who assist us in producing over 70% of our fruits & vegetables which ends up sustaining life itself!

 

Bee Ecards: A Meaningful Gesture to Support Bee Conservation

Bee population worldwide is declining, and we all have a role to play in conserving these critical pollinators. World Bee Day on May 20th provides an excellent opportunity for us to show our love and support for bees. One way of doing this is by sending bee ecards.

Bee ecards are digital cards that you can send to your friends, family, or colleagues to raise awareness about the importance of bees. They come in many different designs and themes, such as honeybees, bumblebees, or even solitary bees.

By sending a bee ecard, you’re not only spreading awareness but also supporting organisations that work towards saving the bees. Some websites offer the option of making a donation when sending their ecards – ensuring that your gesture goes beyond just being symbolic.

Moreover, compared to traditional paper postcards which require cutting down trees and using ink made from toxic chemicals – ecards are eco-friendly alternatives with zero carbon footprints.

So why not make use of technology while spreading bee conservation awareness? It’s a meaningful gesture that can help save our little buzzing friends!

 

Beyond World Bee Day: Long-Term Commitment to Bee Conservation

World Bee Day is a great opportunity to raise awareness about the vital importance of bees and the significant threats they face. However, we must not limit our commitment to bee conservation only for one day.

We need a long-term commitment to saving these important pollinators that are crucial for maintaining the balance in nature. One way to achieve this is by supporting local beekeepers who work hard every day to protect bees and their habitats.

Another essential step towards long-term commitment is reducing pesticide use and promoting organic farming practices that priorities environmental health over profit margins. We can also create more green spaces in urban areas, plant native flowers, shrubs, and trees that provide nectar and pollen for bees throughout the year.

It’s crucial to educate ourselves about bees’ role in our ecosystem so we can better understand how we impact them daily with our choices as consumers. By taking small steps every day like buying locally produced honey or using eco-friendly products free from harmful chemicals, we can make a big difference in protecting these amazing creatures beyond World Bee Day!

 

Celebrate World Bee Day: Together, Let’s Save the Bees!

As World Bee Day approaches, let us take the time to celebrate these incredible pollinators and recognize their importance in our ecosystem. By participating in events and initiatives that promote bee conservation, we can make a significant impact on the health and longevity of these crucial insects.

Remember, even small actions like planting bee-friendly flowers or sending a bee ecard can help raise awareness and support for bees. And by supporting local beekeepers through purchasing their honey products or giving them as gifts, we can contribute directly to protecting these vital creatures.

So let’s come together this World Bee Day to celebrate bees and commit ourselves to ongoing efforts towards their conservation. Together, we truly can make an impact and ensure that future generations will continue to enjoy the many benefits that bees provide us with. Let’s save the bees!

 

Moth trapping and Identification with Hidden Herefordshire

We are looking forward to welcoming you to our Moths event this Friday. We will begin at 9pm and finish late (when we get bored!!). Location directions are enclosed but it’s just off the A49 opposite the turning for Much Birch Surgery. First right – the street view shows it well. If anyone wants to they can join me in the morning at 6.30am to check out what the traps have brought in but we should catch a few things leading up to 11pm anyway.

If you can’t make it for any reason please let me know.

Tim Kaye

Project officer, Hidden Herefordshire

World Bee Day is May 20th – its significance and how you can help the bees

World Bee Day is May 20th – its significance and how you can help the bees

If you have not heard about the challenges facing bees and other pollinator insects, you must be living under a rock. Intensive use of land by the fast expanding human population, how we farm or even look after our garden has placed significant pressure on the bee population. That is why some clever people created World Bee Day.  It is a good idea to set aside one day, to reflect on bees, and the day is 20th of May every year.

So, what are the things you can do on World Bee Day to remember and take action that can help these lovely creatures?

Create awareness by sending a FREE World Bee Day eCard

Some of the human activities that are negatively impacting the bees are born of ignorance rather than deliberate lack of care for the bees. So, why not send a FREE Happy Bee Day eCard to your friends and family, to help raise awareness about bees. Charity eCard website, Hope Spring is offering free save the bees eCards on their website. Just visit the free ecards section of their website, use the provided token to send a free Happy Bee Day eCard.

Improve your knowledge of the challenges facing the bees

Bees are beset by the same environmental challenges as other species, including habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation; non-native species and diseases; pollution, including pesticides; and climate change.

Here in the UK, Changes in land use, including insensitive urban development and intensive farming, have caused great losses and fragmentation of pollinator-friendly habitats. This leads to bees losing the diverse and nutritional food sources required for their healthy diet.

It’s important that bees have enough flowers to forage – and safe places to use for nesting, among vegetation, the soil and hedges. But since World War II, we have lost about 98% of our wildflower meadows, leaving the bees with little natural habitat.

Climate change is also having an impact. The shift in temperatures and seasons affects when insects are active and when food is available, which may no longer coincide. New pests and diseases can also strike as the climate changes, devastating bee colonies which have little or no resistance. Bees feel the effects of climate change more greatly than those of habitat disturbance. A recent research found that the abundance and diversity of bee populations are heavily determined by weather conditions. During the study, higher temperatures and more intense rainfall during Winter and Spring months were associated with a lower abundance of wild bees. It is undeniable that climate change poses a huge threat to the wild bee population, and hence our global food supply.

The use of pesticides has also been identified as one of the causes of decline in bee population. 

A study by Dr Richard Gill of Imperial College London, shows how factors associated with land use change affects pollinating insects. He says, ‘They target what are known as nicotinic acetylcholinesterase receptors. These are similar receptors to those that nicotine binds to in humans.’

‘Effectively, this information instructs the insect on how to move, think and learn. Normally, a second molecule will then come and break down the substance that is stimulating the nerve.’

With neonicotinoids, however, this is where the problems arise. The molecule of neonicotinoid has high affinity to the receptor, meaning that it is very difficult to break down.

‘Basically, it causes the insects to become hyperactive. Excess stimulation and the insect has a seizure, a bit like an epileptic fit,’ says Richard.

Save the bees

About two-thirds of the crop plants that feed the world rely on pollination by insects or other animals to produce healthy fruits and seeds for human consumption. Pollination benefits human nutrition – enabling not only the production of an abundance of fruits, nuts and seeds, but also more variety and better quality. 

Below are some of the things you and I can do to help curb the alarming decline in bee population:

  • Plant native wildflowers 
  • Keep part or all of your garden untidy, to make more room for wildlife
  • Adopt a beehive
  • Support smaller, local, organic farms
  • Create awareness by sending bee ecards to your friends and colleagues
  • Support current bills and other pollinator initiatives
 

Spring Herb Walk in The Birches

 

Spring into action in 2022 with a herb foraging walk in the Birches.  Walk from The Hive in Much Birch, along part of the Hereford Trail into Little Birch and onward to Athestan wood. The walk is led by herb expert Rowan McOnegal.

With winter giving way to spring, the fields and hedgerows are waking up with tender shoots of leaves, buds and flowers along the walk route. Rowan McOnegal will highlight the common plants along the way; how they can be used for food or medicine and which plants to stay well away from.

You will have ample opportunity to ask Rowan questions and you may even be able to pick springtime herbs with cleansing properties to help you clean out the dregs of winter and put a spring into your steps for the rest of the year!

Spring Herb Walk from Much Birch More information

Rowan McOnegal studied herbal medicine at the School of Herbal Medicine (Phytotherapy), and botany at the University of Birmingham. She qualified as a medical herbalist in 1990.

She is a  consultant Medical Herbalist and an artist. For many years Rowan grew and made most of her own medicines, whilst teaching others to do likewise.  You can find more information about her on her website Hedgerow Medicine.

Book Your Place

Space on the walk is limited, so it is important that you book your place well in advance.

Fee: £25

Book via Eventbrite

Pay securely using PayPal 

Questions?   Email: temi@temi.co.uk  or call Temi on : 07939 276451

 

Log Hive Making Workshop for Natural Beekeeping

Log Hive Making Workshop for Natural Beekeeping

We are pleased to announce our first log hive making workshop in Herefordshire. As a participant, you will learn the skills you need to make a log hive. You will learn to design and make a log hive to stand on stilts, or to be placed securely, high up on a tree.  A log hive is like a  bee hotel for honeybees. It mimics the preferred home of honey bees in nature. Offering insulation against the cold in winter and a barrier against  heat in the summer months.

Once you learn the skills you need to build a log hive, you are ready to build one for your garden or for family and friends, helping to save and encourage bees conservation in your area.

The workshop includes discussion on the life cycle of bees in the wild, how to prepare a  hive and encourage bees to move in. There will be a wider discussion on how to help honey bees and other  pollinator insects.

Date: October 2022

Time: 9.30 – 5PM

Facilitators: Temi Odurinde and Donald Broughton

Venue:  The Hive, Much Birch. Herefordshire

Cost:  £150

For more information, please use the contact form here.