DON’T BECOME A BEEKEEPER!
……to save the bees.
The problem with the narrative #savethebees is that it’s long on virtue, short on context and infers that honeybee numbers are declining, which isn’t true. You can not become a ‘bee savior’ by popping a beehive in your backgarden to boost the numbers. You’ll be addressing the wrong problem and just possibly making things worse.
Honeybees are amazing creatures, but if you’re a bumblebee, solitary bee, wasp, hoverfly, moth, butterfly or even one of a few kinds of beetle, a 50,000 strong beehive on your turf is an avoracious ‘factory ship’ hoovering up all the local nectar and pollen.
Apart from a few experts, nobody is really expressing concern about how the other pollinators are being out-competed by “the bees” for a reducing supply of forage. But, with habitat loss accelerating, that doesn’t mean it that it shouldn’t be a sizable consideration for those of us who started keeping bees in ignorance and must now be the advocates of caution.
If you want to celebrate #WorldBeeDay with us, make a tangible act of salvation for the bees and every other pollinator, don’t rush into becoming a Beekeeper (unless you are pretty confident your local environment can support it). Please, just put on your gardening gloves instead, help to replant the flowers that insects need, but no longer have; and if you have responsibility for wild spaces, maybe leave them to grow weeds and just the odd bramble. The bees and all the other species who depend on a diverse habitat will thank you.
