A few weeks ago I saw a TV programme called Who Killed the Honey Bee? about the recent and worrying decline of honey bees around the world. Bees of all kinds are the principal pollinator of plants on Earth (including most of the food crops that people depend upon) so the loss of bees would be an unimaginable disaster.
The TV programme visited various places looking for the cause of the decline - various possible culprits were suggested, including loss of diverse habitats from crop monocultures, increases in the use of pesticides and parasitic diseases, but the blame couldn't be pinned firmly on any one cause and it seems most likely that it's a combination of all these factors.
I was reminded of this because over the last couple of days while out in my weed-infested yard, I've noticed a couple of bees visiting the we- er, flowers, there. I don't know where they come from to get to my "garden" (apparently they routinely travel 2 miles, but will fly up to 6) and also these are actually bumblebees, but according to this Guardian article Ten Things to Do to Help Honeybees, I'm doing the right thing (at Kyle's prompting): number 3 is "plant your garden with bee friendly plants." And I guess that as shabby as my own contribution is, I still feel a little pride now that it's doing the bees some small good.
Bzzzzt!
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