The Great Bee Debate "Unique among all God's creatures, only the honeybee improves the environment and preys not on any other species." ~ Royden Brown

What types of bee are there? Beekeepers look after honey bees Beekeeping is usually a hobby There are also beekeeping businesses which carry out bee farming

Which is a honey bee?

Bees in the UK ─Around 250 species of bee ─24 bumblebees ─1 honeybee ─The rest are solitary bees ─All bees get nectar from flowers (fuel) and protein-rich pollen (for growth)

Why are bees important? About 35% (75%) of our crops rely on insects to pollinate them. (Oilseed rape, onions, tomatoes – only bumblebees can pollinate tomatoes –- apples, broccoli and strawberries are just a few) The value of honey bees pollinating crops is estimated at 12 million pounds a year in the UK Crops like sweet corn, rice and wheat do not need pollinators as their pollen is wind blown They provide honey!!! They provide our FOOD Pollinators are also part of the wider food web

What are the different types of values pollinators provide? Crops, Gardens & allotments £691 million Honey £ million Plant communities Ecosystem Services Culturally impt Aesthetically pleasing Soil protection Water quality Biodiversity Forage

Honey Bee life cycle A worker bee lives just 6 weeks. During this time she will have many roles in the hive It would take 1,100 bees to make 1kg of honey and they would have to visit 4 million flowers. An individual bee will only make one and a half teaspoons of honey in its entire life. The queen bee can live up to 5 years and can lay up to 2000 eggs a day. She has control over whether she lays male or female eggs In the summer a hive will be home to about 60,000 workers, 2000 drones and just 1 queen

Bumblebee life cycle Queens emerge from hibernation in Spring. This is a difficult time of year to find food. The bees need nectar to re-fuel and rebuild their body fat

Differences between bumblebees and honeybees 9 Bumblebees ─Wild ─18 social species and 6 cuckoo species ─ workers ─No dancing! ─Only the queen survives winter ─Struggling due to flower shortages - habitat loss Honeybees ─Domesticated ─Only 1 species ─50,000 workers ─‘Waggledance’ ─Colony survives winter ─Hives badly affected by diseases

Honey production Bees collect nectar using their long tongues. They carry it in a special stomach and when they return to the hive it is passed from bee to bee. Enzymes in the bees’ stomachs convert the nectar to honey. It is stored in a wax cell and used as food for the bees Bees in France made blue honey when they collected sugary waste from the M and M factory!

Communication Bees communicate using pheromones Bees’ sense of smell is so sensitive the American military are training bees to detect explosives Honey bees use a waggle dance to tell other hive members the direction of food sources

Honey in the UK Only about 15% of the honey we eat in the UK is produced in this country This means that locally produced honey is much more expensive than honey in the supermarkets which is usually imported Bee keeping is an expensive hobby and the number of beekeepers is falling. This contributes to the fact that there is less local honey available The soft fruit industry relies on imported bumblebees to pollinate the crops as there are not enough pollinators to provide the food we need.

Wild bees Wild bees are under threat as well as honey bees Their decline is seen as the result of many different factors including: Habitat loss Changes in agricultural practices Pests and diseases

Neonicotinoids Chemicals called neonicotinoids were developed as an insecticide Questions have been raised about the environmental impact of neonicotinoids, especially on bees As a result, a ban on neonicotinoid seed treatment for crops attractive to bees was imposed in 2013 The NFU secured the emergency use of neonicotinoid seed treatments providing protection from cabbage stem flea beetle for five per cent of the 2015 oilseed rape crop in England

What can we do? Insect pollination is vital not only in terms of biodiversity but also in terms of providing a diversity of food that we really value. So we need to: Look after our pollinators Provide homes for bees Provide food for bees Be thoughtful about our use of pesticides

Resources and web sites Bumblebee Conservation Trust  Bee Farmers’ Association British Bee Keepers Association Tesco Eat Happy Friends of the Earth Sussex University bee resources Bee world Buzz about bees Christian Aid

Picture credits Thanks to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and Bayer CropScience for the images in this presentation