# lack of bees in the garden



## John Starkey (13 Jun 2009)

Hi All,the wife and i are members of the national trust and visit quite a few gardens and houses during the summer,today we visited some lovely gardens in the cotswolds nr chipping campden,what struck myself and a lot of other visitors was the lack of honey bees,apparently its a worrying thing in the gardening world this year,and they think its due to some sort of germ/infection which is affecting the bees,
does anyone on our forum have any insight into the problem,or has anyone any views on it.
regrards john.


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## Nelson (13 Jun 2009)

hi john,
loads of bees in my garden  .don't know if honey bees  .
have a read here though  http://www.independent.co.uk/environmen ... 13971.html

from last year.


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## AdAndrews (13 Jun 2009)

I watched a programme about it, basically to start to get people to keep bees more, because of them dying out, i believe its some sort of a disease, not sure.. my gran keeps banging onto me to keep some, but i hate the little things!!


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## aaronnorth (13 Jun 2009)

i havent seen any this year, not even a wasp!


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## JamesM (13 Jun 2009)

Lots of bees in my garden again this year. Bloody horrible things.


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## GreenNeedle (13 Jun 2009)

Tonnes of bees in my garden but I think people do assume a little too much of bees being a colony.

Most of the bees that we see in our gardens are not your average live in a large hive colony type.

There are a lot of Bumble bees which live in very small colonys and the vast majority are solitary bees like 'miner bees'

I have loads of miner bees in my garden.  They dig little holes in the dry areas of the lawn that look almost like 'worm castings' but with a very obvious little hole in the centre of the casting.  These bees don't really get on with our 'modern' gardens where we constantly water lawns and try and keep the lawn perfect looking in all ways 

Ally this to the increasing number of 'easy maintenance' ground force type of garden where it is more structure than actual garden and the bees are less visible.

Go to a natural area like a woodland or heath and you will see them in huge numbers.

No idea on honey bees and what the problem is.  I did hear something about a problem on the news a long time ago but didn't really pay attention.

Just thought I would point out it isn't just honey bees you see in gardens 

AC


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## John Starkey (13 Jun 2009)

SuperColey1 said:
			
		

> Tonnes of bees in my garden but I think people do assume a little too much of bees being a colony.
> 
> Most of the bees that we see in our gardens are not your average live in a large hive colony type.
> 
> ...


cheers andy for the reply,
regards john.


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## glenn (13 Jun 2009)

yes there is a problem with the decline in honey bees, which has a detrimental nock on effect to, well allmost everything  
one main reason is the verroa mite, (i thinks its foregion got to britan some how) which is a parasite that lives of the bee, causing flying problems and further health problems and eventualy kills the been then goes on to the next one.
another reason is CCD(colony colaps disorder) -where a hive will just 'disapear'- i dont think a propper reason has yet been found for this, but iv heared its linked to the verroa mite.


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## Lisa_Perry75 (13 Jun 2009)

I watched a TV program on it and mostly it is this colony collapse thing, no idea what causes it or how to stop it.

I have also heard that humans rely on bees so much that if bees were to die out the human race would become extinct...


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## John Starkey (13 Jun 2009)

Hi all,i googled it a few mins ago and its like Glen above says,and apparently its getting worse,the main worry is that without the honey bee all or most of our wildflowers,fruit trees,and so on will suffer badly because they need the bees for pollenation,and without the bees we would lose lots of our wild flowers,
regards john.


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## aaronnorth (13 Jun 2009)

Lisa_Perry75 said:
			
		

> I watched a TV program on it and mostly it is this colony collapse thing, no idea what causes it or how to stop it.
> 
> I have also heard that humans rely on bees so much that if bees were to die out the human race would become extinct...


i dont think we would become extinct, but we would certinaley suffer, from the lack of pollenation

EDIT: doh, John beat me too it lol


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## LondonDragon (13 Jun 2009)

john starkey said:
			
		

> Hi all,i googled it a few mins ago and its like Glen above says,and apparently its getting worse,the main worry is that without the honey bee all or most of our wildflowers,fruit trees,and so on will suffer badly because they need the bees for pollenation,and without the bees we would lose lots of our wild flowers,
> regards john.


Yeah, brings us back to "The Bee Movie" if you haven't seen it, watch it and you can see the impact it will have in the environment, and its a good animation movie too haha


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## GreenNeedle (14 Jun 2009)

john starkey said:
			
		

> Hi all,i googled it a few mins ago and its like Glen above says,and apparently its getting worse,the main worry is that without the honey bee all or most of our wildflowers,fruit trees,and so on will suffer badly because they need the bees for pollenation,and without the bees we would lose lots of our wild flowers,
> regards john.



This was what my main point was.  The honey bee is one of many.  They all pollenate.  The honey bee is 'focused' on because it is the one that has most interest due to it's high nectar > honey product.

Without the honey bee pollenation would still occur from the all the other bees.  After all the vast majority of honey bees in the UK are not native to the UK.  The majority are a southern europe variety that apiarist favour for its honey production volume.  In fact there are plans to introduce breeding programs to increase the native black bee species.  Won't go down well with Apiarists because it won't make as much money as the imported ones!!!

Thats not to say it isn't a problem because it is but the articles in papers and slots in news programs are a little bit misleading suggesting that without the honey bee we would have problems.  We wouldn't   What they should focus on is the problem rather than trying to 'sensationalise' by suggesting that the demise of the honey bee would mean the demise of humans.  The original statement (that some attribute to Einstein) was that If bees (all) were to disappear then the human race would follow within 4 years!!!

One problem that has not been suggested is the problem of pesticide/herbicide which is known to reduce bee numbers substantially.  The other is mowing grass frequently, down to a very low height and during the day.

AC


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## paul.in.kendal (19 Jun 2009)

I think you're all missing the point.  If all the bees disappear things will get very confusing on here.  Here's a typical post-bee post:


> Hi Guys, can you help?  I'm thinking of upgrading my iOr Life 30 for something igger, perhaps a Nano-Cue 28G, or even a really ig, ow-fronted Juwel.  I'm thinking of reeding ettas, or perhaps ristlenoses. Decor: ogwood or orneowild.  Sustrate: lack each gravel and lack each peles.  I'll have Co2 - 2kg FE ottle, ule counter and JL hardware. Planting: Mainly crypts: alansae, Wendtii rown and eckettii, plus lyxa and olitis.
> 
> UKAPS ay!


Sorry, I think the wait for my very first aquarium has finally tipped me over the Fluval Edge...


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## Joecoral (19 Jun 2009)

Lisa_Perry75 said:
			
		

> I have also heard that humans rely on bees so much that if bees were to die out the human race would become extinct...



Very true. One of my lecturers in uni was quite heavily involved with bees, they are literally worth billions of Â£ in terms of the benefits they provide by pollinating crops


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## a1Matt (19 Jun 2009)

paul.in.kendal said:
			
		

> I think you're all missing the point.  If all the bees disappear things will get very confusing on here.  Here's a typical post-bee post:
> 
> 
> > Hi Guys, can you help?  I'm thinking of upgrading my iOr Life 30 for something igger, perhaps a Nano-Cue 28G, or even a really ig, ow-fronted Juwel.  I'm thinking of reeding ettas, or perhaps ristlenoses. Decor: ogwood or orneowild.  Sustrate: lack each gravel and lack each peles.  I'll have Co2 - 2kg FE ottle, ule counter and JL hardware. Planting: Mainly crypts: alansae, Wendtii rown and eckettii, plus lyxa and olitis.
> ...



    I love the 'UKAPS ay!' at the end. Priceless.

Well I ventured out into the jungle that is my overgrown back garden this week and there were lots of bumble bees in it.  Every flower head had a couple of bees in it.  They looked like they were having a great time rolling round in the pollen. It was mainly the brambles in bloom so they were most concentrated there.


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## lindacoates80 (20 Jun 2009)

As well as having my fishtanks i have a hive of bees in my garden , my neighbour has 2 hives and my dad has got 8 hives. I don't tend to do much with the bees my dad checks them for me but i like having them around.As long as they dont sting me!! You have to watch out for the varroa mite but our hives seem to be quite clear hopefully we will get some honey from them later on in the season if the weather picks up. Close to where i live there is a bee farmer Google John Mellis Honey he has about 350 hives. So we've got plenty round here.


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