How You Can Help
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BEEKEEPERS
Help reinforce sustainable and environmentally friendly beekeeping practices by supporting your local beekeepers. By buying honey locally you are not only supporting your local environment, you are helping increase the numbers of local hives and the overall local honeybee population. The honey also tastes so much better! Don’t limit yourself to honey, look out for candles, furniture wax, beauty products (and spirits!) made using beeswax and honey from your local hives.
PROVIDE WATER FOR POLLINATORS
For bees, a supply of water is as important as pollen and nectar forage in the Summer. They work tirelessly foraging and can become dehydrated easily if they cannot fi nd a source of water. You can help by setting up a clean, safe place for them to stop and have a drink. It can be as simple as a shallow bowl fi lled daily with fresh water with stones or twigs for the bees to land on safely.
GROW BEE FRIENDLY PLANT SPECIES IN YOUR GARDEN
Help bees and pollinators by growing a variety of fl owers and shrubs that are full of nectar and pollen, to give them a rich feeding ground throughout the year. A garden full of plants that are rich in pollen and nectar will help your local bees thrive. Even potted plants on a balcony helps! The Royal Horticultural Society have created downloadable PDF lists of year-round fl owering plants here www.rhs.org.uk
AVOID USING PESTICIDES
No one wants pests on their plants, but many pesticides can be lethal to bees. Cut out chemical treatments for your plants and NEVER spray open fl owers. There are various natural treatments you can try to keep pests away from your garden such as companion planting and use of deterrents and barriers. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has some great tips on natural remedies to rid your garden of pests www.rspb.org.uk
CUT GRASS LESS OFTEN
Some councils in the UK have stopped cutting sections of grass on their verges to encourage wildfl owers to grow! You can do this too by cutting your lawn less often and encouraging lawn ‘weeds’ to fl ower, creating more opportunities for honeybees to forage in your garden.