Over tens of millions of years bees have evolved alongside plants in a symbiotic relationship. Flowers provide the nectar for the bees and the bees transport pollen from one flower to another allowing for pollination to occur.
Approximately one third of the food we eat comes directly or indirectly from plants pollinated by bees, including fruit, vegetables and seed crops. Coupled with pollinating non-food crops, wildflowers and trees the industrious honey bee is hugely important to us, both economically and ecologically.
According to a recent article in the Daily Telegraph, ‘England's bees are vanishing faster than anywhere else in Europe, with more than half of hives dying out over the last 20 years, according to a new study. The University of Reading research found there was a 54 per cent decline in managed honey bee populations in England between 1985 and 2005 compared to an average of 20 per cent across Europe. |
