How to be friendly to bees and why it matters

HAVE you heard the news? Henley was recognised as a bee-friendly town on National Bee Day in May.

We achieved this thanks to the efforts of various organisations, residential areas and businesses to become more bee-friendly in their grounds, window boxes or raised beds.

Across the town we had schools for all ages — pre-school, primary, secondary — and The Henley College involved.

Some churches, shops, charities, housing associations and residents’ groups added to the sustenance and shelter needed for bees to thrive. Of course, Henley Town Council played a major part, as did Greener Henley and they are working in partnership to maintain this
recognition.

Attaining bee-friendly status for the town was one of the council’s strategy goals so we are pleased that we managed to do it within a year.

Obviously, what has been started is great but for it to be a real success for pollinators we should all be trying to improve the environment for all living beings.

Everyone who has access to a scrap of ground can do something to make survival of native species possible.

There is a very serious motive behind the fun of being bee-friendly.

Often when people think of bees they are thinking of honey bees but as most of these are farmed by careful beekeepers, they are doing all right.

But some species of bumble bee and solitary bees, along with other pollinating insects, are not doing so well.

Some bumble bees live socially in nests, not in the same numbers or with the same social hierarchy as honey bees.

However, some are solitary bees and make their own nests (usually underground) to lay their eggs and provide food for the emerging grubs. The exception is the cuckoo bee which lay its eggs in other bees’ nests so it doesn’t have to provide food for them, just like the cuckoo bird.

Solitary bees are different altogether. I have read that one red mason bee can pollinate 120 more flowers than a honey bee. They are our most proficient pollinators, with hoverflies coming in second.

The good thing about solitary bees and hoverflies is that even though they might look scary sometimes, they don’t sting and are not aggressive.

For many of them the fact that they look like bees and wasps offers them some protection from predators, although that is not always the case.

The brilliant thing about hoverflies is that they are a gardener’s friend. They are attracted to flat-shaped flowers, particularly orange and yellow colours.

Not only do they eat the nectar, they also lay their eggs on plants such as marigolds and nasturtiums. Their larvae are voracious eaters of aphids and other similar garden “pests”. That is why those plants are recommended as companion plants in a vegetable garden.

A prime source of pollen vital for the growth of some bumble bees are the native plants bird’s-foot trefoil and red clover (both members of the pea family).

The loss of these species in meadows is thought to have contributed to the decline in bumble bees.

Broad beans and runner beans are also members of the pea family. If you have plenty of bees in your vegetable garden, you should have a good crop of beans.

Over the spring and early summer we have been growing some of these old meadow plants in pots as part of the Nature² and bee-friendly Henley campaigns.

We took the bulk of these to Henley’s Great Green Festival on Saturday and have given some out to people who may have space on a balcony or a doorstep but not the facilities to garden themselves. We also had a few pots of oriental poppies, devil’s-bit scabious and a large campanula.

All of these provide food for different insects at various times of the year and have different features that make them attractive to specific
species.

What is so fascinating about nature is that everything has evolved and continues to evolve for all species to produce offspring and keep their species line going.

That’s why there are so many different shapes, colours and scents of plants around us. If a flower’s structure is too complicated it will not be attractive to many insects and risk not being pollinated.

Therefore each flower has evolved for pollination by some particular species, which likewise have evolved to be able to get enough food from plants for themselves and their young.

Biodiversity is like a giant jigsaw where everything has its place.

For example, some flowers have evolved to make use of “buzz-
pollination”, which is a specific way of collecting pollen.

The stamens of these flowers form a pointed central cone which will only release pollen when a bumblebee visits and vibrates their wings at a certain frequency.

Only bumble bees and Anthopora bees like the hairy-footed flower bee seem able to do this, not honey bees.

Tomato, peppers, borage and Geranium phaeum all have flowers that need this kind of pollination.

Studies have shown that bees prefer orange and blue flowers whereas butterflies are more often attracted to pink or lilac ones.

Flowers with small tubular centres appeal mostly to moths and butterflies.

Aubretia, hesperis (lady’s smock) and the campian family (dianthus) are typically favoured by moths and butterflies.

The petals are flat so the insects use them as a landing platform while inserting their long thin proboscis into the small tube at the centre of the flower.

Plants like the red valerian, which grows freely in this area, are a favourite of the amazing hummingbird hawk-moth.

Although the individual flowers are tiny, the moths can push their long thin tongue into the centre of the flower to drink nectar.

You will have noticed that some flowers smell stronger at night. This is to attract pollinators such as the night-flying moths.

The RSPB recommends flowers with strong scents such as nicotiana, summer jasmine, hemp agrimony, sweet rocket, night-scented stock, evening primrose and phlox.

I have noticed a lot more bees about this year, most probably because it has been dry and sunny for a few weeks as opposed to the wet season we had all last year.

I was disappointed with my courgette harvest and noticed that not all the female courgette flowers in my garden were pollinated. I put it down to lack of pollinators.

This year I intend to grow some bee-friendly flowers near the vegetable plot just to make it more attractive to bees.

From what I have read, it is a good idea to mix up your flowers and vegetables, especially for natural pest control.

For those interested in encouraging pollinators into your garden the advice is:

l Provide them with enough varied food.

l Give them access to water – a saucer with marbles or stones for bees and hoverflies.

l Do not use chemicals in the space.

l Piles of brushwood or logs tucked under the undergrowth give shelter or buy/make a bee hotel if you fancy doing some bee husbandry.

For more information about Nature² and bee-friendly Henley email greenerhenley.org.uk or contact Henley Town Council.