Eco Comment – Butterflies and Bees

We have two environmental issues to focus on this week. The Big Butterfly Count starts today and we’re in the middle of Bees’ Needs Week. I’m writing this on Wednesday 10 July which is ‘Don’t Step on a Bee Day’ and is apparently celebrated each year and highlights the plight of bees (and other pollinators). I feel certain that no one would intentionally ‘step on a bee’ so read on for more of the information available.

(Sadly) ‘in the last 5 years the bee population has decreased by a third in the UK alone, 35 bee species are currently under threat of extinction and all bee species are facing serious threats to their survival.’ I read this on the website of Safari Zoo Cumbria (southlakessafarizoo.com).

‘Building works have destroyed bees’ natural habitats – 97% of our vital grasslands and hedgerows have been lost in the past 60 years. Increased use of pesticides, results in paralysis and eventual death. Insects that would have kept parasite numbers under control are killed off by pesticides, allowing harmful parasites to flourish and bees under the influence of pesticides are less resistant to the harmful varroa mite – a parasite which can wipe out bee colonies.’

The website goes on to state the obvious really, in that ‘by hurting the bees, we are ultimately only hurting ourselves.’ It goes on to point out that bees perform around 80% of all pollination worldwide and that a lone bee can pollinate 5,000 plants a day.

Without the bees we wouldn’t have the avocados which make guacamole to have with our nachos or fajitas. We would struggle to get enough tomatoes for our pizza base or bolognese sauce. If we had to manually pollinate UK crops, scientists estimate that it would cost over £1.8 billion every year!

The fashion industry would also be affected as cotton plants and other natural fabrics depend on bees. Canola (better known to us as rapeseed) is used to produce biofuel which, if we didn’t produce it, would increase our dependency on fossil fuels (the use of which we’re trying to reduce).

The website then goes on to say that although they’ve painted a ‘dismal, but realistic picture’, all is not lost and there are things that we can do to help:

Firstly, leave those twigs and branches near the compost heap. They can take the place of commercially available bee boxes and bug hotels. (You could also buy some if you were so inclined?)

Secondly give the bees some food sources. Plant up your garden with bees in mind. The RHS produce a ‘perfect pollinator list’, don’t cut the grass quite so often and leave the occasional dandelion. Weeds are a good source of food for bees.

If you see a bee struggling, it’s probably OK but tired. (I don’t know how much pollen weighs, but it must add a considerable amount to the weight of a small bee). Some sugar water (2tbsps of white sugar to 1 of water) will revive it.

And lastly avoid the use of pesticides and check that any new plants you buy are not pre-treated with neonics pesticides.

Then we move on to butterflies. You have until Sunday 04 August to choose a 15 minute spot to record how many butterflies and daytime flying moths you see. You can download a chart or get a free app  from either Google Play or the App Store to help you identify the different species. Then add your count on the website and look at the interactive map to see how your contribution is adding to conservation and research. All the information needed is on the bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org website.

The Big Butterfly Count is a UK wide survey aimed at helping us assess the health of the environment. It’s rather pleasing to think that 15 minutes of our time might be a small contribution to hopefully showing that some things in the garden are rosy and not all doom and gloom.

If 15 minutes is too long for you to spare you could help DEFRA by watching flowers and insects (in good weather) and recording the results. The Flower Insect Timed (FIT) count can be done any time until September. Information can be found on www.gov.uk Bees’ Needs Week 2024 and you are encouraged to be involved with citizen science. We can also hope that we will have at least 10 minutes of fine, sunny weather at some points before September.

Susan Morgan
Eco Group