Protect our bees

Today, environment secretary Liz Truss announced a new 10-year ‘Bee Action plan‘ to protect Britain’s bees. It comes after a series of warnings that bee populations are falling dramatically across the world.

Some parts of the plan will be good news for bees. There’s a new £900m Countryside Stewardship scheme which will pay to farmers to maintain hedgerows and wildlife habitats. And the government is going to support a series of projects to restore 97% of meadows which have been lost since the 1930s.

There are actions we can take straight away to protect bees in our local areas. If you’ve got a lawn, you could let some of it – even just a corner – become overgrown with nettles and weeds to ensure that there is enough pollen and nectar to provide food for bees. Or if you live near a community space or park, ask for part of it to be left alone for daisies, lavender and dandelions to grow.

And  we should think carefully about whether to use pesticides especially where bees are active or nesting or where plants are in flower, because pesticides are dangerous for bees.

Together, we’ll also work out what we could do to tighten the ‘Bee Action plan’ to make sure it really protects bees. If you’ve got any thoughts, please leave a reply at the bottom of this blog. Here are a couple of articles which might give you some inspiration:

• BBC News: Plan bee: New measures to protect pollinators:
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/29847474
• The Guardian: Liz Truss: leave lawnmower in the shed to protect UK’s bees:
  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/04/bees-uk-protect-liz-truss-pollinating-lawnmower
• The Telegraph: Let your lawns grow wild to save Britain’s bees, gardeners told:
  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/11205984/Let-your-lawns-grow-wild-to-save-Britains-bees-gardeners-told.html