Help Save the Bees

For the past 10 years, colonies of bees have decreased at an alarming rate. A phenomenon called colony collapse disorder has been killing them off en masse, and beekeepers have been quick to alert the public about their high hive mortality. The bees are threatened by new and intensive farming practices(heavy usage of technologies such as pesticides and chemical fertilisers, plant growth regulators, and methods such as mono-cropping and organised irrigation), climate change and the arrival of the Asian hornet. In recent years, the mortality rate of bees has quadrupled. The disappearance of bees endangers the beekeeping profession and threatens agriculture and the food supply (according to French scientists from INRA and the CNRS, 35% of world production of fruits, vegetables and oilseeds depends on the activities of the pollinators).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/23/cancities-save-bees

You can help!!!
Join Euan Brierley on 17th July (2pm-5pm) or 7th August (2pm-5pm) to find out more about why bees are kept in hives, the life cycle of the bee, essential beekeeping equipment and the risks involved. You’ll also have the opportunity to open up Church Farm hives providing that the weather is fine. If you can’t wait to keep bees and/or want to help save them, then this is the course for you! £30.

Help Save Bees

There are about 250 species of bee in the UK. Only 25 of these are native British bumblebees – half of what we had in the 1950s. Three have already become extinct, five are currently under serious threat and two more are precariously close. So what can you do to help? As well as planting bee-friendly plants and not using insecticides, you could join Euan Brierley, our beekeeper, on 4th June for a walk and talk on bees. Or, alternatively, sign up to our in depth course to develop the skills needed to take up the hobby. http://helpsavebees.co.uk/