‘Bees, Please’ campaign launched to raise awareness of reduction in Britain’s bee population
- #BeesPlease is a campaign to raise awareness of how important bees are to our society, and to help the public know how best to help tackle the problems that are reducing Britain’s population of bees at a startling rate.
- Led by NQ reporter Dane Harrison.
Bees are the world’s most common and important pollinator of crops and it has been estimated that a third of the food a person eats on a day to day basis relies on the pollination of bees. It’s a fact that bees are critical to the pollination of food crops all over the world.
Yet here in the UK, we’ve already lost 3 native species of the bumble bee and a further 2 are critically endangered. In the past century alone, we have seen numbers decline by 75% in the number of bee hives in our country, going from around 182,000 colonies in 1965 to a much smaller 83,000 as of 2010. While recent years have been more favourable for the bees with the recent ban of neonicotinoid pesticides in the EU, there are still more threats to bees that need tackling.
These threats to bees are:
• Intensive farming which has led to a fall in habitat areas for bees
• Overreliance of pesticides
• Climate change, which is disrupting bees nesting times
• Invasive species such as the Asian Hornet.
Given bees vital part in our lives we believe you should be more aware of how important bees are to us and how best to help them, even in your own little ways. That’s why we at Bees, please believe in raising awareness of just how much trouble our little friends are in, and just how best to help. Even from the comfort of your home!
To find out more ways you can help, follow our blog here or check out our Facebook & Twitter feeds to stay upto date on all things Bees, please!