Don’t Step On A Bee Day!
In honour of Don’t Step On A Bee Day (10th of July), and from noticing a lot of people choosing to rewild their gardens, I’ve been inspired to look into how the bees have been doing lately. Bees are an essential part of our ecosystem. They pollinate plants - about 80% of all pollination is done by bees- and use nectar to make honey. By doing these jobs, bees are responsible for 1 in every 3 bites that we eat! But bees are in danger. You might have noticed you don’t see as many flying around as you used to, or it’s been a while since you heard of anyone being stung by a bee. Beekeepers have noticed that their hives have been depleted by 30-50% and sometimes up to 90%. This trend has been continuing for over a decade. It’s suspected that pesticides are responsible. Biologists have analysed bee pollen and found more than 150 toxic chemicals. This isn’t entirely accidental - chemical companies have been made aware of the effect of their products on the bee population and have shirked...