Dinosaurs, robots and honeybees. I don’t know why, but everyone is fascinated,” says Richard Glassborow, chair of the London Beekeepers’ Association (LBKA). When it comes to beekeeping, what was once a niche hobby has flourished, especially in Britain’s cities.
Hurrah! All those dire warnings about losing pollinators won't come true. Isn't it great to have good news for a change?
But there is growing concern from scientists and experienced beekeepers that the vast numbers of honeybees, combined with a lack of pollinator-friendly spaces, could be jeopardising the health and even survival of some of about 6,000 wild pollinators across the UK.
Oh...
Last year, Kew Gardens’ State of the World’s Plant and Fungi report warned: “Campaigns encouraging people to save bees have resulted in an unsustainable proliferation in urban beekeeping. This approach only saves one species of bee, the honeybee, with no regard for how honeybees interact with other, native species.”
So honeybees are now this year's diesel vehicles - once promoted relentlessly, now damned...
Dale Gibson of Bermondsey Street Bees, a commercial beekeeping practice with a focus on sustainability, says they have reduced their hives in London by a third to alleviate the overpopulation crisis.
Yes, you read that right - on hearing this, people immediately cave in and follow the advice of the 'experts' who told them to do what they were doing in the first place.
“It’s a question of all things in moderation,” says Memmott, a view shared by Richard Comont from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. “Beekeeping in and of itself is a good thing for people to be able to do but it’s a question of scale and responsibility,” he says.
“There are a lot of wellbeing benefits, and the honey you get out of a hive is massively nicer than anything you can get in the supermarkets. Those sort of reasons are perfectly valid reasons to keep bees.
“As long as you realise that you aren’t doing it to save the bees; in the same way, if you keep chickens next to your beehive you aren’t saving the white-tailed sea eagle.”
What...?!?
H/T: BarristerBlog via Twitter
3 comments:
Well, I live in a rural area. After retiring last year I set about creating an insect friendly area in my garden with a wide mixture of flowers. There is no shortage of pollinators in my corner of the world, lots of different kinds of bees, hoverflies and butterflies.
We back onto the village church, where we've marvelled at the proliferation of bird's foot trefoils, several clovers, daisies, buttercups etc., all growing happily for the first time in years (the old mower man retired last year).
They strimmed the lot today.
Sodding vicars.
"There is no shortage of pollinators in my corner of the world, lots of different kinds of bees, hoverflies and butterflies."
All the building managers who are busy creating 'living walls' and roof gardens are ensuring that there's a flourishing population even in inner cities. Let's hope they ignore this edict.
"They strimmed the lot today.
Sodding vicars."
😢
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